In short, it is appropriate for fundamental vehicle practitioners to accept the universal vehicle teachings for two reasons. First, the principal cause for attaining liberation is indicated in the universal vehicle scriptures because its explanation of non-arising (non-inherently existent arising) and the fundamental vehicle explanation of extinction are the same in indicating emptiness. Second, as shown in the explanation of verse 365, the emptiness explained in the universal vehicle scriptures is also explained in the fundamental vehicle scriptures, and no one can attain liberation without realizing emptiness. For both of these reasons, the universal vehicle scriptures can be accepted as the Buddha’s word.
If you can’t accept the emptiness of inherent existence, you can’t accept the cause of the truth body. Emptiness is the focal object of aryas’ meditative equipoise, and as such, it is the “cause” of the truth body. Those who are able to analyze with reasoning will find that the explanations in the universal vehicle scriptures of no inherent arising and in the fundamental vehicle scriptures of extinction are equal in indicating emptiness. This being the case, the universal vehicle scriptures should be accepted as the Buddha’s word.
388.What the Tathagata stated with a [hidden] intention
is not easy to understand.
For this reason, there is said to be one vehicle, and also three.
Therefore, protect yourself by being equanimous.
389.By being equanimous, you do nothing wrong;
but negativity comes from anger — how could virtue?
Hence, those who seek what is good for themselves
should not despise the universal vehicle.
If You Don’t Understand the Universal Vehicle, Maintain a Neutral Attitude Toward It
A skillful teacher, the Buddha taught according to the dispositions and interests of his disciples. Depending on whom he was addressing, to one audience he spoke of three final vehicles, while to another he said there was one final vehicle. Three final vehicles means that once those following the hearer, solitary realizer, and bodhisattva paths reach the culmination of their respective paths, they will abide in the nirvana that is the final goal of that path. In the case of hearers and solitary realizers, that is to become an arhat and attain a nirvana in which all afflictive obscurations have been extinguished and rebirth in cyclic existence has ceased. As long as those arhats are alive there is the remainder of the polluted aggregates they were born with. When they die, they shed those remaining aggregates and enter nirvana. This is the termination or extinction of the continuity of the aggregates; what is left is called the sphere of nirvana. There is no talk of the personal existence of an arhat. Thus at the time of nirvana with remainder, the person exists, as does the polluted body. At the time of nirvana without remainder, there is merely the sphere of nirvana — there is no person.
The Vaibhashikas, Sautrantikas, and Chittamatrins Following Scripture assert three final vehicles, while the Chittamatrins Following Reasoning, Svatantrikas, and Prasangikas assert that there is one final vehicle and that eventually all sentient beings will attain full awakening. Arhatship is not the final end point because although arhats have abandoned afflictive obscurations, they still have cognitive obscurations. This means they have not abandoned every obscuration possible, nor have they cultivated all the good qualities that our minds are capable of cultivating.
Furthermore, Prasangikas say that at the time hearer or solitary realizer arhats pass away, they abandon the polluted body, but the continuity of consciousness remains. They abide in meditative equipoise on emptiness until the Buddha “wakes them up” and prompts them to enter the bodhisattva path. At that time, they engage in fulfilling the collections of merit and wisdom by practicing the six perfections, and eventually attain buddhahood. A buddha’s nirvana is called “non-abiding nirvana” because the person abides in neither cyclic existence nor in the personal peace of a hearer or solitary realizer arhat.
In brief, while the Buddha knew that everyone will eventually attain full awakening and thus accepted one final vehicle, he did not teach this to everyone. For the purpose of taking care of people whose interests and dispositions rendered them suitable for entering into and practicing the hearer or solitary realizer vehicle, the Buddha taught that there are three final vehicles. Those disciples were intent on gaining liberation from cyclic existence and were not interested in training in the universal vehicle with its emphasis on bodhichitta and the six perfections. After they trained in the hearer and solitary realizer paths and attained arhatship, the Buddha knew that they would later enter the universal vehicle.
Sometimes there was a difference between the Buddha’s own thought and what he taught to specific disciples. This does not mean that he contradicted himself or spoke falsely; rather he was an extremely skillful teacher whose sole intention was to lead all sentient beings to the bliss of peerless awakening. To meet the needs of his varied disciples, the Buddha gave both definitive and provisional teachings. According to the Prasangikas, definitive teachings are those that explicitly teach the emptiness of inherent existence. Provisional teachings do not accord with the literal meaning of the words and need to be interpreted differently to discover the Buddha’s final intention. When it comes to the teachings on emptiness, there is a great deal of discussion among the philosophical systems about which teachings are definitive and which are provisional. This must ultimately be decided by employing reasoning.
Some people criticize the universal vehicle teachings because they do not understand the difference between definitive and provisional teachings or they reject the thought that everyone will eventually follow the bodhisattva path to buddhahood. Nagarjuna cautions those people: Rather than get upset and create destructive karma from anger, remain equanimous and impartial, and in this way protect yourselves from creating nonvirtue. Anger is never virtuous, so it’s better to put the issue on the back burner for the time being rather than to disparage teachings you do not understand or find useful at that moment.
390.The bodhisattvas’ aspirational prayers
are not taught in the hearer vehicle,
nor are their practices, nor the dedication.
How could one become a bodhisattva through that [vehicle]?
391.[In the other vehicles] the buddhas did not state
the foundation for the bodhisattva’s awakening.
What source is better than the Victors
for attaining reliable knowledge on this topic?
Not All Bodhisattva Practices Are Explained Completely in Fundamental Vehicle Scriptures
Someone asks, “The fundamental vehicle scriptures teach the practice of all three vehicles, so what do you mean when you say the practice of the universal vehicle isn’t explained in them?” In the fundamental vehicle scriptures, the Buddha didn’t explain in a complete way all of the vast practices of the bodhisattvas. For example, bodhisattvas’ aspirational prayers, the details of their practice of the six perfections, and their dedication of merit are not described there. The bodhisattvas’ aspirational prayers are the wide array of powerful aspirations bodhisattvas make, especially once they have attained the first bodhisattva ground — the bodhisattva path of seeing. These are strong aspirations and resolute determinations that grow in number, strength, and expanse as bodhisattvas ascend through the ten bodhisattva grounds.
Similarly, bodhisattvas’ practice of the six perfections becomes more and more profound as they ascend the grounds. In addition, bodhisattvas dedicate merit in extraordinarily vast ways — the “King of Prayers” is a good example of this. Some verses in this prayer from the Flower Ornament Sutra (Avatamsaka Sutra) ask us to imagine on each atom a buddha teaching the Dharma to a huge assembly of bodhisattvas. We also visualize a vast assembly of bodhisattvas on each atom making oceans of offerings to an enormous assembly of buddhas. While aspirational prayers, generosity, dedication of merit, and so forth are taught in the fundamental vehicle, they are not taught as extensively or completely. Bodhichitta is mentio
ned, but the detailed methods to cultivate it are not taught. The fundamental vehicle also does not teach how to engage in the vast practices of the two collections that lead to the two buddha bodies. Thus, while it is possible to become a bodhisattva and attain buddhahood following only the fundamental vehicle scriptures, it is more difficult.
392.The path that is shared with the hearers includes the foundations [for the arhat],
the meanings of the aryas’ truths, and the aids to awakening.
If buddhahood were the result of that path,
how could buddhahood be superior [to arhatship]?
Practicing the Four Truths and the Thirty-Seven Aids Is Not Sufficient to Attain Full Awakening
Someone inquires, “Why is there the need to explain so many other practices when just meditating on the four truths and the thirty-seven aids to awakening for three countless great eons will bring buddhahood?”
The sixteen aspects of the four truths of the aryas and the thirty-seven aids to awakening are practices that hearers, solitary realizers, and bodhisattvas share in common. However, meditation on those alone won’t lead to the unique result of buddhahood. The state of a buddha is superior to that of an arhat; buddhas have eradicated all obscurations and developed all excellent qualities limitlessly, whereas arhats have eliminated only the afflictive obscurations, not the cognitive obscurations. The causes of buddhahood include those of the hearers’ practice — with the exception of the motivation to attain one’s own personal nirvana. In addition, those aspiring for buddhahood generate bodhichitta and engage in all the bodhisattva practices on the method side of the path. Thus, unlike the hearer and the solitary realizer practitioners who can attain their goal through practicing only the teachings in the fundamental vehicle scriptures, bodhisattvas must also practice the bodhisattva deeds as taught in the universal vehicle scriptures in order to become buddhas.
393.The subject matter of engaging in practices for awakening
is not discussed in the [fundamental vehicle] sutras,
but it is discussed in the universal vehicle.
Hence, judicious persons should accept [the universal vehicle].
Wise People Accept the Universal Vehicle Scriptures as the Buddha’s Word
The Buddha did not teach the essential points of the bodhisattva practices in the fundamental vehicle sutras, which contain the essential practices for hearers and solitary realizers. But these points were taught in the universal vehicle scriptures.
While hearers and solitary realizers understand the same emptiness of inherent existence as bodhisattvas, they do so by using one reasoning, whereas bodhisattvas employ many reasonings to realize emptiness. In this way, bodhisattvas’ understanding of emptiness is more well-rounded, and they are better able to explain emptiness to others because of their knowledge and experience meditating on diverse reasonings. Therefore, the wise should accept the universal vehicle teachings as taught by the Buddha.
394.A language teacher will make [some students]
read from a diagram of the alphabet.
Likewise, the Buddha taught the Dharma
in accord with his disciples’ abilities.
395.The Dharma he taught to some
is for the purpose of stopping negativity.
To some, it is aimed at the practice of virtue.
And to some, he taught one that is based on duality.
396.He taught to some a Dharma not based on duality.
And to some, he taught a profound Dharma that terrifies the timid;
its essence is wisdom and compassion,
and it is the means to attain full awakening.
The Purpose of Teaching Three Vehicles
A skillful teacher instructs children according to their capabilities. A child may want to be a doctor, but she cannot begin her education with medical studies that are way above her head; she must first learn the alphabet as a means to be able to study complex subjects later. Similarly, the Buddha taught the three vehicles and the four philosophical tenet systems as skillful ways to lead trainees gradually, according to their present capabilities, to the final state of awakening.
To some people the Buddha taught the practice of stopping the negativity of the ten paths of nonvirtuous actions. In this way, they stop creating causes for lower rebirths. To some he emphasized the practice of virtue by engaging in the ten paths of virtuous actions, so that they create the causes for higher rebirths in future lives. In the lamrim literature, both of these pertain to initial capacity practitioners. He did not teach these disciples the methods to free themselves from cyclic existence because they were not sufficiently prepared to do so at that time.
To those who were more capable — the middle capacity beings — the Buddha taught practices based on duality so that they could abandon cyclic existence and attain liberation. The Buddha taught these people — principally Vaibhashikas and Sautrantikas — that even higher rebirths should be abandoned because they are within cyclic existence. To free themselves from all birth in cyclic existence and attain liberation, these practitioners were instructed to meditate on the sixteen aspects of the four truths and the thirty-seven aids to awakening. Since it was appropriate for their disposition, he taught them to meditate on the selflessness of persons — that is, the absence of a self-sufficient, substantially existent person — as the means to attain liberation. Neither the Vaibhashikas nor the Sautrantikas were ready to hear that grasping the inherent existence of persons and phenomena is the root of cyclic existence or that both persons and phenomena are selfless. Thus the Buddha taught them a view based on duality, saying there are external objects that are unrelated to the mind.
Showing a Dharma not based on duality, the Buddha taught disciples who aspired for awakening the selflessness of phenomena according to the Chittamatra view. Here the selflessness of phenomena means that an object and the consciousness apprehending it do not exist as separate entities. To these disciples, the Buddha said there were no external objects — that is, things are of the nature of the mind in the sense that they arise from the same substantial cause as the mind apprehending them. However, in order not to push them beyond their capacity, he also taught them that the apprehending mind is truly existent. While the Chittamatra view is subtler than those of the Vaibhashikas and Sautrantikas in that it asserts a selflessness of phenomena, that selflessness of phenomena is still coarse compared to that of the Madhyamikas.
To those with a Prasangika disposition, the Buddha taught a profound Dharma that terrifies the timid. Its essence is wisdom and compassion because it is supported by the methods of bodhichitta and the six perfections. This view asserts a subtler selflessness of both persons and phenomena than taught to others. To Madhyamikas in general, he taught the emptiness of true existence as that was suitable for those with both Svatantrika and Prasangika dispositions. However, to Prasangikas he taught the subtlest view, the emptiness of inherent existence.
Again we see the Buddha’s magnificent skill as a spiritual guide. He gave more superficial explanations to suit the mentality of initial capacity practitioners, and as they progressed he gradually taught subtler views. In this way, he helped trainees steadily expand their capacity and intelligence.
397.Hence, the wise should cease
to despise the universal vehicle,
and they should generate special faith
so as to attain true, complete awakening.
398.Through faith in the universal vehicle
and by the practices stated therein,
one will attain unexcelled awakening
and all kinds of joy along the way.
When they reflect on the above explanation of the universal vehicle, its teachings, and its results, the wise respect these teachings of the Buddha. If we wish to attain the complete awakening of a buddha, we should cultivate special faith in the universal vehicle and the bodhisattva path. That will inspire us to generate bodhichitta, enter the bodhisattva path, and follow it until we reach buddhahood. Even thoug
h we do not make specific effort to attain worldly happiness, we will nevertheless experience much worldly happiness along the way.
399.A Dharma — in essence compassion —
consisting of generosity, ethical conduct, and fortitude
was taught especially for householders.
You should resolutely internalize it.
While the three practices of generosity, ethical conduct, and fortitude are also practiced by monastics, the Buddha taught them especially to householders because they are easier for householders to practice. The king can easily put these teachings into practice while ruling his kingdom. Here ethical conduct refers to the five precepts of male and female lay practitioners, as well as the eight precepts that householders can take for just a day. Nagarjuna encourages the king to become familiar with these practices and make sure they are supported by love, compassion, and bodhichitta so they will become the collection of merit. In addition, when doing these bodhisattva practices, reflect on the emptiness of the agent, object, and action, so that you also collect wisdom. Of course, this advice is meant for us as well as for the king.
400.However, if you are unable to rule in accord with Dharma,
because the world is opposed to Dharma,
then for the sake of Dharma and glory,
it makes sense for you to become a monastic.
Advice to Ordain if You Are Unable to Engage in These Practices as a Lay Follower
As a king, if you find it is impossible to rule your kingdom according to Dharma, then you should become a monastic. Because sentient beings are unruly and have such harsh, rough minds overwhelmed with a multitude of afflictions, it can be difficult to govern them. If the only way to rule is by killing, beating, and punishing them, you will create a great deal of destructive karma and your Dharma practice will drastically degenerate. In this case, it is better for you to go forth from the householder life and become a monastic. This way you will create great virtue and be a good example for your subjects. They will respect you for that.
Practical Ethics and Profound Emptiness Page 36