by Donald Lopez
Enslaved by delusion, some confronted you. Is it surprising that they were unable to bear the sound, ‘nothing intrinsically exists’? (21)
[Others], who held dependent origination to be the cherished treasure of your words, are unable to bear the roar of emptiness. I am surprised at this. (22)
[Still others know] only the name of dependent origination – the unsurpassed door leading to the absence of intrinsic nature – and think that it intrinsically exists. (23)
By what method are these beings now to be led to that auspicious path so pleasing to you, the peerless passage well travelled by the supreme noble ones? (24)
How could the two – an innate, independent nature and a dependent, created dependent origination – be united in a single object without contradicting one another? (25)
Therefore, that which is dependently arisen is utterly devoid of intrinsic nature from the beginning. However, because they appear [to have intrinsic nature], you said that all of this is like an illusion. (26)
Because of just this, one can well understand why it is said that your opponents could not find an actual flaw in your teaching. (27)
Why? Because by explaining this you removed the possibility of exaggeration or deprecation of things seen and unseen. (28)
Dependent origination is the reason that I saw your words to be peerless. This alone created the conviction that your other teachings were true. (29)
You saw the truth and spoke it well. For those who study your teachings all troubles are cast away because all faults are uprooted. (30)
Those who oppose your teaching, no matter how long or how hard they try, are like those who repeatedly summon faults, because they rely on the view of self. (31)
How wondrous! When scholars understand the difference between these two, how could they not respect you from the depths of their being? (32)
What need is there to speak of your many teachings? Even conviction in just the general idea of a mere point of one portion bestows supreme happiness. (33)
Alas! My mind has been destroyed by delusion. I have long taken refuge in the collection of such virtues, yet I have not gone in search of even a portion of [those] virtues. (34)
Still, even with slight faith in you, until my life disappears into the jaws of the Lord of Death, I will delight in the thought that this is indeed the fortunate age. (35)
Among teachers, the teacher of dependent origination; among wisdoms, the wisdom of dependent origination. These two are like chief kings in the world. No other knowledge is as perfect as yours. (36)
Whatever you have spoken begins from dependent origination for the purpose of passing beyond sorrow. You have done nothing that does not lead to peace. (37)
How amazing! All those whose ears your teaching enters become serene. Thus, who would not respect those who uphold your teaching? (38)
You have refuted all who oppose you and are free from all contradictions. You fulfil the two aims of living beings. My delight in your ways increases. (39)
Over countless aeons you gave gifts again and again, sometimes of your body, at other times your life, your beautiful loved ones, your riches. (40)
Seeing the qualities of your teaching, I am drawn to your heart like a fish by a hook. It is my misfortune not to have heard it from you. (41)
Strengthened by that sorrow, my mind does not relinquish [your teaching], just as the mind of a mother does not forget her beautiful child. (42)
Yet when I contemplate your speech, it is in the divine voice of the teacher, his body blazing with the glory of the major and secondary marks, surrounded by patterns of light. (43)
When I think about you teaching this [dependent origination] in this way, a reflection of the Muni appears in my mind. Just a glimpse of him is medicinal, like the cool rays of the moon for one tormented by heat. (44)
Those people who do not understand your auspicious and wondrous ways are utterly confused, like grass twisted together. (45)
Having seen this, I sought for your intention, again and again, following the wise with much exertion. (46)
When I studied many treatises of our own and other schools, my mind was utterly tormented by the webs of doubt, again and again. (47)
You predicted that the camphor grove of Nāgārjuna’s works would explain your unsurpassed vehicle just as it is, free from the extremes of existence and non-existence. (48)
The vast orb of stainless wisdom, unimpeded in the sky of scriptures, dispels the darkness of the deepest extreme views and outshines the stars of mistaken teachings. (49)
When, through the kindness of my teacher, [the works of Nāgārjuna] were illuminated by the white beams of light of the glorious Candrakīrti’s good explanations, my mind found rest. (50)
Among all your deeds, your deeds of speech are supreme. It is for this alone that the wise should remember the Buddha. (51)
A monk who goes forth from the world following that teacher should revere the Great Ascetic by not being deficient in the study of the Conqueror’s words and striving in the practice of yoga. (52)
I dedicate the virtue of this encounter with the teachings of the unsurpassed Teacher, made possible through the kindness of my lama, in order that all beings may be cared for by an excellent guide. (53)
Through setting forth his munificent deeds, until the end of existence may I be unmoved by the winds of misconceptions, and having understood the inner meaning of the teaching may I be filled with conviction in the Teacher. (54)
May I not relax even for an instant in upholding for the sake of all beings – even if I must give up my body and my life – the auspicious ways of the Muni, who made manifest the reality of dependent origination. (55)
May I spend day and night analysing how to increase, by whatever means, this [teaching] that the supreme guide gained by striving diligently for its essence through measureless hardships. (56)
When I strive in that way with the supreme intention [to achieve buddhahood for others] may I be tirelessly and constantly aided by protectors such as Brahmā, Indra, the kings of the four directions and Mahākāla. (57)
Translated by Donald Lopez from Sangs rgyas bcom Idan ’das ’jig rten thams cad kyi ma ’dris pa’i mdza’ bshes chen po ston pa bla na med pa la zab mo rten cing ’brel par ’byung ba gsung ba’i sgo nas bstodpa legs par bshadpa’i snying po (better known as Rten ’brel bstodpa) by Tsong kha pa. It appears in the volume of miscellaneous writings (bka’ ’bum thor bu) in the second volume (kha) of the Lhasa edition of his collected works. See The Collected Works (gsuṅ ’bum) of the Incomparable Lord Tsoṅ-kha-pa bLo-bzaṅ-grags-pa (Khams gsum chos kyis [sic] rgyal po shar tsong kha pa chen po’i gsung ’bum) (New Delhi: Mongolian Lama Guru Deva, 1978), pp. 13a4–16a3.
MONASTIC LIFE
25
THE EVOLUTION OF ORDINATION
The saṅgha came into existence when the group of five who heard the Buddha’s first sermon requested his permission to go forth and be ordained. The Buddha ordained them simply by saying to each of them, ‘Come, monk’ (ehi bhikkhu). This same simple formula was used for the next group to hear the dharma, the young brahman Yasa and his four friends, and then a larger group of fifty of Yasa’s friends. All became arhats. The Buddha then instructed them to go out in different directions to teach the dharma, and he granted them permission to ordain others. They were not to say ‘Come, monk’, however. Instead, those who sought admission to the order had to repeat the refuge formula three times, ‘I go for refuge to the Buddha. I go for refuge to the dharma. I go for refuge to the saṅgha.’ Such an arrangement would grant entry to the order of monks to anyone who sought it. This apparently created problems, and a new system was instituted that bestowed the right to confer admission to the members of the saṅgha, resulting eventually in the well-known ordination ceremony described in the next chapter. The transition, however, was not a smooth one, as the following selection demonstrates; it resulted from a series of modifications as various difficulties presented themselves.
This section illustrates an important characteristic of the vinaya, the code of monastic discipline. The Buddha did not formulate rules hypothetically. Indeed, in the early saṅgha there was no real need for rules because all of the monks were arhats or destined to become arhats. But as the order grew, problems developed that required regulations to prevent their occurrence in the future. Thus, for every rule there is a narrative describing the circumstances of its creation. The vinaya, then, far from being an austere legal code, is a rich source of insight into the concerns of the community, regardless of whether one accepts the tradition’s claim that each of the rules was established by the Buddha himself after a specific historical incident.
The circumstances that surround the formulation of a rule are often humorous; the rule that a person must request ordination prior to being ordained arose after a monk, chastised for his bad behaviour, replied that he had never asked to be a monk in the first place. Sometimes a rule made in response to one problem had to be revised when it created another. After a monk explained that he had become a monk because he saw how well the monks ate, the Buddha made a rule that the spartan conditions of monastic life had to be explained to those seeking admission prior to their ordination. When a potential monk heard such an explanation, he replied that he had wanted to become a monk before learning of the lifestyle, but now had changed his mind. The Buddha therefore amended the rule, requiring that the sparse requisites of monastic life be explained not before, but after ordination. The other accounts below provide the circumstances leading to the rule that ordination requires the permission of at least ten monks, rather than two or three; then the permission of at least ten monks who have been monks for at least ten years; and then the permission of ten monks of good standing who have been monks for at least ten years.
The selection is drawn from the Mahāvagga (‘large section’) of the Vinaya Piṭaka (‘Basket of Discipline’) of the Theravāda tradition.
Now at that time a certain monk, immediately after he was ordained, indulged in bad habits. Monks spoke thus: ‘Do not, your reverence, do that, it is not allowed.’ He spoke thus: ‘But, indeed, I did not ask the venerable ones saying, “Ordain me”. Why did you ordain me without being asked [to do so]?’ They told this matter to the Lord. He said: ‘Monks, you should not ordain without being asked [to do so]. Whoever should [so] ordain, there is an offence of wrong-doing. I allow you, monks, to ordain when you have been asked [to do so].
‘And thus, monks, should one ask [for it]. That one who wishes for ordination, having approached the order, having arranged his upper robe over one shoulder, having honoured the monks’ feet, having sat down on his haunches, having saluted with joined palms, should speak thus to it: “Honoured sirs, I ask the order for ordination; honoured sirs, may the order raise me up out of compassion.” And a second time should he ask… And a third time should he ask…
‘The order should be informed by an experienced, competent monk, saying: “Honoured sirs, let the order hear me. This [person] so and so wishes for ordination from the venerable so and so. So and so asks the order for ordination through the preceptor so and so. If it seems right for the order the order may ordain so and so through the preceptor so and so. This is the motion.
‘“Honoured sirs, let the order hear me. This [person] so and so wishes for ordination from the venerable so and so. So and so asks the order for ordination through the preceptor so and so. If the ordination of so and so through the preceptor so and so is pleasing to the venerable ones, let them be silent; he to whom it is not pleasing should speak. And a second time I speak forth this matter… And a third time I speak forth this matter… So and so is ordained by the order through the preceptor so and so. It is pleasing to the order, therefore they are silent. Thus do I understand this.”’
Now at that time at Rājagaha a succession of meals of sumptuous foods came to be arranged. Then it occurred to a certain brahman: ‘Now, these recluses, sons of the Sakyans, are pleasant in character, pleasant in conduct; having eaten good meals they lie down on beds sheltered from the wind. What now if I should go forth among these recluses, sons of the Sakyans?’ Then that brahman, having approached [some] monks, asked for the going forth. The monks allowed him to go forth [and] they ordained him.
The succession of meals dwindled away after he had gone forth. Monks spoke thus: ‘Come along now, your reverence, we will walk for almsfood.’ He spoke thus: ‘Your reverences, I did not go forth for this – that I should walk for almsfood. If you will give to me, I will eat, but if you will not give to me, I will leave the order.’
‘But did you, your reverence, go forth for your belly’s sake?’
‘Yes, your reverences.’
Those who were modest monks, looked down upon, criticised, spread it about, saying: ‘How can this monk go forth in this dhamma and discipline which are well taught for his belly’s sake?’ These monks told this matter to the Lord. He said:
‘Is it true, as is said, that you, monk, went forth for your belly’s sake?’
‘It is true, Lord.’
The enlightened one, the Lord, rebuked him, saying:
‘How can you, foolish man, go forth in this dhamma and discipline which are well taught for your belly’s sake? It is not, foolish man, for pleasing those who are not [yet] pleased, nor for increasing [the number of] those who are pleased.’ Having rebuked him, having given reasoned talk, he addressed the monks, saying:
‘I allow you, monks, when you are ordaining, to explain four resources: that going forth is on account of meals of scraps; in this respect effort is to be made by you for life. [These are] extra acquisitions: a meal for an order, a meal for a special person, an invitation, ticket-food [a meal provided for monks chosen by lot], [food given] on a day of the waxing or waning of the moon, on an observance day, on the day after an observance day. That going forth is on account of rag-robes; in this respect effort is to be made by you for life. [These are] extra acquisitions: [robes made of] linen, cotton, silk, wool, coarse hemp, canvas. That going forth is on account of a lodging at the root of a tree; in this respect effort is to be made by you for life. [These are] extra acquisitions: a dwelling place, a curved house, a long house, a mansion, a cave. That going forth is on account of ammonia as a medicine; in this respect effort is to be made by you for life. [These are] extra acquisitions: ghee, fresh butter, oil, honey, molasses.’
Now at that time a certain brahman youth, having approached [some] monks, asked for the going forth. The monks explained the resources beforehand. He spoke thus: ‘If, honoured sirs, you had explained the resources to me after I had gone forth, I should have been satisfied, but now, honoured sirs, I will not go forth; the resources are disgusting and loathsome to me.’ The monks told this matter to the Lord. He said:
‘Monks, the resources should not be explained beforehand. Whoever should [thus] explain them, there is an offence of wrong-doing. I allow you, monks, to explain the resources soon after ordaining [a person].’
Now at that time monks ordained through a group of two and a group of three [monks]. They told this to the Lord. He said:
‘Monks, you should not ordain through a group of less than ten [monks]. Whosoever should [so] ordain, there is an offence of wrong-doing. I allow you, monks, to ordain through a group of ten or more than ten [monks].’
Now at that time monks of one year’s standing and of two years’ standing [severally] ordained the one who shared his cell. And when he was of one year’s standing, the venerable Upasena, Vanganta’s son, ordained the one who shared his cell. When he was of two years’ standing, having kept the rains-residence [the annual retreat during the rainy season], taking the one who shared his cell and who was of one year’s standing, he approached the Lord. Having approached, having greeted the Lord, he sat down at a respectful distance. Now, it is the custom for awakened ones, for lords, to exchange friendly greetings with incoming monks.
Then the Lord spoke thus to the venerable Upasena, Vanganta’s son: �
�I hope, monk, that things go well with you, I hope you are keeping going, I hope you came here with but little fatigue on the journey.’
‘Things do go well with me, Lord, I am keeping going, Lord, I came, Lord, with but little fatigue on the journey.’
Now truthfinders [sometimes] ask knowing, and knowing [sometimes] do not ask; they ask, knowing the right time [to ask], and they do not ask, knowing the right time [when not to ask]. Truthfinders ask about what belongs to the goal, not about what does not belong to the goal. Awakened ones, lords, question monks concerning two matters: ‘Shall we teach dhamma?’ or ‘Shall we lay down a rule of training for disciples?’
Then the Lord spoke thus to the venerable Upasena, Vanganta’s son: ‘Of how many years’ standing are you, monk?’
‘I, Lord, am of two years’ standing.’
‘And of how many years’ standing is this monk?’
‘He is of one year’s standing, Lord.’
‘Who is this monk as regards you?’
‘He is the one who shares my cell, Lord.’
The awakened one, the Lord rebuked [him], saying:
‘It is not fitting, foolish man, it is not becoming, it is not proper, it is unworthy of a recluse, it is not allowable, it should not be done. How can you, foolish man, when you should be exhorted and instructed by others, think to exhort and instruct another [monk]? Too quickly have you, foolish man, turned to abundance, that is to say to acquiring a group. It is not, foolish man, for pleasing those who are not [yet] pleased, nor for increasing [the number of] those who are pleased.’ Having rebuked him, having given him reasoned talk, he addressed the monks, saying:
‘Monks, one who is of less than ten years’ standing should not ordain. Whoever [such] should [so] ordain, there is an offence of wrong-doing. I allow you, monks, to ordain through one who is of ten years’ standing or through one who is of more than ten years’ standing.’
Now at that time ignorant, inexperienced monks ordained, thinking: ‘We are of ten years’ standing, we are of ten years’ standing.’ [Consequently] there were to be found ignorant preceptors, wise [monks] who shared their cells; inexperienced preceptors, experienced [monks] who shared their cells; preceptors who had heard little, [monks] who shared their cells who had heard much; preceptors of poor intelligence, intelligent [monks] who shared their cells; and a certain former member of another sect, when he was being spoken to by his preceptor regarding a rule, having refuted the preceptor, went over to the fold of that same sect [as before].