Zusammenfassung (Lorenz) Remembering the three jewels: Part 11b (english) Lorenz
1. The second section comprises three phrases: “It brings one close (or in)”, “It is meaningful to see”, and “It is known to the wise ones through the personal self-knowing”. 2. – 8. First part of this section:
2. – 3. “It brings one close (or in)”: “It” stands for Dharma. What are the abilities of Dharma? It causes one to completely abandon suffering, to get rid of suffering and through that, it brings one near to an unstained bliss. It is reached by means of hearing, contemplation and meditation.
4. – 6. “It is meaningful to see”. The dharma is a boat rescueing us, when we are in the middle of the ocean, our boat has sunk. We have been without any reliance for lifetimes. It is like a boat, which helps us to cross the ocean of samsara. Dharma takes one out from samsara.
7. – 8. “It is known to the wise ones through the personal self-knowing.” The wise ones are those who understand the nature of mind as opposed to those who just understand intellectually. The personal self-knowing, understanding the mind, is the very ‘rigpa’ (rig pa). The ultimate meaning can be known fully only by the Buddha. For that you need a full wisdom of the Buddha. That is not to say that others cannot see it at all. We can see it through reasoning, through deduction, like seeing smoke and concluding, somewhere must be a fire.
9. – 12.Second part of this section with two parts – a synopsis and an extensive explanation; Synopsis: The sutra says, “The Dharma serves well for taming” or “The Dharma spoken by the Bhagavat is properly expressed in the Vinaya”. There are three turnings of the wheel, 84,000 sections of the Dharma, and so on. During the first turning of the wheel, the Buddha was talking about different qualities and aspects of the Four Truths of the noble ones. Then, during the second turning of the wheel, the Buddha talked about the selflessness. Why he is confusing us in this way? Obviously, he did say that in order to be in accordance with the mental capacities, thoughts, senses and aspirations of the beeings. The dharma is the way to remedy all afflictions of the minds of different individual disciples. That is the main meaning of this section here.
13. – 22. Extensive explanation with six phrases: “It is renunciation”; “it causes one to go to complete enlightenment”; “it is without disharmony”;“it has inclusion”; “it has reliability”; “it does end the journey”. i. “It is renunciation” means by properly hearing and meditating upon its meaning one can turn away from samsara or renounce it. It removes the afflictions and their subtle stains, delivering one to the buddhahood. ii. The phrase, “It causes one to go to complete enlightenment” – that very cause is like a vehicle, but not in the sense of the lesser and the greater vehicle, but summarizing the whole spectrum of the holy dharma as one ultimate vehicle. iii. “It is without disharmony”: All the stages and paths are all in harmony with each other. iv. “It has inclusion”: “It has inclusion” means that it is pithy. The fact is that all the good qualities of the lesser paths are all included within the higher paths and they should not be disregarded. Especially, this point is very valid on the occasion of practicing. When we practice the dharma, we should never forget about the qualities of the lesser paths. v. “It has reliability”: it is stable, per example with devotion the result will come for sure. vi. “It does end the journey”. That does not mean just to bring thoughts and thinking to an end, but stopping the whole process of samsara the remedy that the dharma is.
23. – 25. This concludes the section of the recollection of the good qualities of the holy dharma. The next section is the good qualities of the Sangha.
26. – 34. Start of the first part: Showing the good qualities of the Sangha. “Their mind-streams are totally purified”: this section means in Sanskrit “Sangha anusmriti”, in Tibetan “Gendün gi yönten je su dren pa (dge ‘dun gyi yon tan rjes su dren pa), in English, “Recollection of the Good Qualities of the Sangha”, where ‘anumsmriti’ and ‘je su dren pa’ means recollection and ‘gendün’ or ‘sangha’ means sangha in English as well. Mipham Rinpoche chose to use the words “The Sangha of the Great Vehicle”, the Mahayana Sangha. First, the word ‘gendün’ (dge ‘dun) means ‘intent on virtue’, those who are very strongly set on the path. The noble ones are those who have purified their mind-streams, who have reached the levels of bodhisattva, who cannot fall back into samsara, who realized the absence of self – both personal self and the self of phenomena, in opposite to the general vehicle followers, who are considered noble even if they have only realized the absence of personal self.
35. – 38. In the conception of Hinayana the sangha includes those whose mindstreams are purified, who have reached some sublime levels until the path of no more learning. Following the advice of the Three Jewels, it is also advisable to see all the persons wearing Buddhist robes, red and yellow, as Sangha.
39. – 41. “They have entered into good”, means, their behavior is completely free from faults, restrained through the first of the three principle trainings, the training of disciple.
42. – 46. The second phrase “They have entered into insight” is connected with the second principle training, the training of samādhi. “They have entered into straightness” This follows the order of analyzing the Sangha through the three principle trainings. First is discipline, than second Samadhi, which third the wisdom comes about. “Those who have entered into harmony”. This last phrase is like a conclusion of the previous three. These four phrases characterize those who are abiding on the path that is the noble path.
47. – 51. The next paragraph says that “they are worthy of joined palms, they are worthy of prostration.”The merit that can be achieved through paying respect to the Sangha in such a way is inconceivable.
52. – 53. The next phrase is, “They are fields of the glory of merit”. Offering to the Sangha with devotion, faith and a pure mind, will cause an inexhaustible heap of merit. It is also said that they are thoroughly trained in relation to gifts. What does it mean? For ordinary people, whatever they receive, it is always going to create some stains in their mind. The Sangha, no matter how big offerings are, there is never going to be that obscuration arising in their mindstreams. This concludes the section of them being the supreme fields of good qualities.
54. – 58. Now the second part: praising the ones having these good qualities as the supreme places of giving – it has a slightly different approach. The Sangha here is compared to a field. If you have a proper field, with the good seeds you are going to get a great crop. The Sangha here is like a good field. Depending on the commentary that we are using, there are either the words, “they are in all places a great place for generosity” or “they are a great place for generosity”, whatever the generosity and wherever it might be. That concludes the section of the good qualities of the Sangha. After having recollected the good qualities of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha along with the topical outline of subjects, we have concluded the teachings of this text.
59. – 63. It is a custom in every – complete – commentary to have first, the subject to be explained; the explanation; the reason or necessity of explanation; and the essential necessity. The ultimate meaning of studying this text is that by knowing the qualities of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, one can ultimately realize these qualities in one’s own mind and thus become a buddha.
64. – 66. What is to be explained and the explanation are the good qualities of the Three Jewels. The necessity is fulfilled – one can really know them and recollect them. This fulfills the purpose of the essential necessity that is to say, having got the blessings of the Three Jewels that enables one to ultimately reach buddhahood. The greater reason to study is really be able to know the good qualities of the Three Jewels so that we can go for refuge in them. Going for refuge enables us [to] finally reach the ultimate fruition. This is the great reason for our studies, to properly go for refuge in the Three Jewels, knowing what they are.
67. – 68. Considering the manner of going for refuge is to keep in mind: “No matter what happens, good or bad, I should always keep the Three Jewels as the ultimate refuge in my mind. There is never going to be a circumstance in which I will renounce the refuge. Even at the cost of my life I will always develop faith, devotion and aspiration towards the Three Jewels”. The benefit and the necessity of going for refuge is that the one who has gone for refuge, can be assured that all the essential obstacles of this life will be removed. The blessings of the Three Jewels can enter our mind wherever we are, whenever we are.
69. It is not that the qualities of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha are going just to enter our body as some kind of external object. It can be said that when we reach the buddhahood ourselves, our body becomes the Sangha, our speech becomes the Dharma, and our mind is the Buddha. That is what it means to have the qualities of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha realized. 70. Finally the wishes are mentioned, that ultimately all the qualities of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha can enter our minds and fill our mind, so that we can be blessed by the Three Jewels. The End!
