We are going through the third chapter “Adopting the Bodhisattva’s Mind, the Bodhicitta.” Some translations state “Full Acceptance of the Awakening Mind” or “taking Hold of Bodhicitta.” Basically it is the stage where it discusses: How do we motivate ourselves? How do we apply ourselves to train, to practice, to generate, to cultivate the bodhisattva’s attitude?
Bodhicitta, the term itself, sometimes can be understood as a name, as its quality, as its purpose, or as its action. In this case, both apply: taking hold of the bodhisattva name–if we engage in this path–then somehow we will be able to obtain this name. We will be able to call ourselves, label ourselves, bodhisattvas. In terms of the action, this is a way; this is a chapter or a method in which we learn how to activate this quality.
Probably one of the questions now is: What does a bodhisattva practice? Although it is immeasurable, there are ways of summarizing it. One of the classical ways of doing that is to summarize it into the six perfections, the six paramitas1. It is these six ways of living, of carrying ourselves, that help us understand what it is to be a bodhisattva. In these ten chapters, basically all these six paramitas are explained. It is said that the first three chapters, the tenth chapter, and the last chapter, which is the chapter of dedication, mainly focus on the first paramita of generosity. It is one of the very first activities, one of the very first practices. Therefore, it is described in detail in these four chapters.
It is said that in terms of being generous, in terms of its activity, the practice of generosity can be described by dividing it three-fold: The first way of being generous consists of offering what is needed, providing what is most necessary in terms of living a life, such as food, shelter, and so on. The second category is that of providing refuge, being generous in terms of providing refuge. The third one is the generosity of the truth, the absolute meaning.
In this case, particularly in the third chapter it is talking about how to practice bodhicitta, how to gain bodhicitta. That is the absolute or ultimate form of generosity, absolute giving because it is through this that you will be able to overcome all forms of poverty. Worldly types of poverty come and go, they are not really absolute. If conditions are met, worldly poverty can be overcome. But real poverty is there if our consciousness, our being, our understanding, our mind lacks knowledge, truth, wisdom—the essential qualities that are sometimes interpreted as “inner wealth.” If those types of wealth are missing, then there is constant poverty, and it becomes a basis for all forms of other poverty. Therefore, this chapter is talking particularly about that.
The beginning of the third chapter continues where the second chapter leaves off, which talks about the preparations that we need in terms of accumulating merit and wisdom. Normally I think that we should be quite familiar with the practice of the seven branches2. It is a term to describe a certain set of practices that involves making aspirations, purifying the mind, motivating the mind, and developing the right intention so that the mind becomes able or flexible. It is a way to make our mind more flexible so that it is able to understand and able to have the means to truly generate bodhicitta.
The Third Chapter:
“Full Acceptance of the Awakening Mind”
Verse 1
Gladly do I rejoice
In the virtue that relieves the misery
Of all those in unfortunate states
And that gives happiness to the suffering.
Verse 2
I rejoice in that gathering of virtue
That is the cause for [the Arhat’s] Awakening,
I rejoice in the definite freedom of embodied creatures
From the miseries of cyclic existence.
Verse 3
I rejoice in the Awakening of the Buddhas
And also in the spiritual levels of their Children.
Verse 4
And with gladness I rejoice
In the ocean of virtue from developing an Awakening Mind
That wishes all beings to be happy,
As well as in the deeds that bring them benefit.
Within these four verses, it basically describes a number of ways of rejoicing for various reasons. The first one focuses in general on rejoicing in all the goodness that all sentient beings generate, all the good things they gather.
From time to time, when I was trying to describe the practice of rejoicing, I had said that normally in order to inspire ourselves, the reason for rejoicing would be to think of absolute qualities—such as the qualities of the buddhas and bodhisattvas. Often that really helps because in terms of its appearance, in terms of its presence, just the thought itself already impresses us. We always need something uplifting, and only impressive reasons, impressive objects, impressive causes make us impressed. Therefore, we often begin with the activities of the buddhas and bodhisattvas in order to find a way to rejoice.
But the gradual way, as it is described here, is that we first focus on fellow sentient beings. There is actually a very profound reason for this—because it is common to all of us that we need to be able to relate. Even though we are impressed by great beings, often the challenge is that we are not able to relate to them. Let’s say we have a hero or heroine in our mind that we idolize, so we want to become like him or her, and so on. But somehow, the reason we are not able to generate full inspiration is because we do not find many relating factors. Sometimes that is a hindrance. That is why this gradual way of rejoicing takes care of this problem.
First of all, we rejoice in sentient beings’ goodness because we ourselves would not really consider ourselves as perfect, nor the complete opposite, completely imperfect. We would consider ourselves right in the middle, and that is where we are happy. In this case, all sentient beings would currently be in the same state, more or less, and therefore, we will be able to relate. We will be able to relate to the little details, the little goodness that all sentient beings generate every now and then; therefore, we rejoice in these positive actions. They may not be profound, they may not be deep, they may not be vast, but at least they are good. For example, someone may be helping someone who is in need of shelter or someone who is in need of food or drink. Accordingly, we see a great many sentient beings—just within our world—whenever there is a disaster, whenever there is a problem, people actually come together and do many great things to support.
Compared to the activity of buddhas and bodhisattvas, of course, there is a difference so great that I would consider it like the difference between sky and earth. Nevertheless, in terms of being good, it is already virtuous, it is already good, it is already decent. So there are many reasons why we can rejoice for them. We rejoice in the actions that relieve temporary confusions, temporary pain, or temporary sufferings. For example, if one provides food and drink, it will relieve the temporary hunger for today. But tomorrow is a different case. Whereas the dharma, although it may not be edible, it may not be drinkable, but in the long run, it is able to solve the actual root of hunger and thirst; therefore, it is more profound. Nevertheless, we rejoice in everything that “gives happiness to the suffering.”
The first category is that of fellow sentient beings. The next category for rejoicing is beyond worldly activities, beyond worldly qualities. From here onwards, we speak of the activities of the arhats3, the activities of the bodhisattvas, and finally the activities of the Buddha. We have to somehow take time to really understand what defines an arhat. It is something that can’t be said in just a few words. It is something that we have to study. It’s something that we have to learn. In short, one could say that the cause for their being—for becoming enlightened in the arhat way—comes from an emotion, from a situation in which one understands a great truth, unlike any other. Therefore, their activity, their quality, really commands our respect; it commands our practice of rejoicing because they understand something very, very profound. They actually understand the Four Noble Truths to a great extent. We only understand the concept. Just understanding the concept itself takes a long time, and often we get it wrong. We often remain stuck there for a long time, and then again another tour guide has to come along and say, “No, it’s in that direction (Karmapa laughing).” Sometimes we may be lucky enough to find several tour guides, but each tour guide has their own experience, their own tradition of showing the way, and then we are lost in terms of which advice to take and so on. So there are so many forms of challenges. But in the case of those beings who seek for arhathood, they have come a long way—actually so long that we cannot imagine. It takes eons and eons to reach that level of understanding, that level of knowledge, that level of wisdom. It is coming from understanding: “What is the real root of suffering? What are we actually trying to renounce? What are we trying to run away from?”
As for ourselves, we really don’t know what we have to run away from, what we have to renounce. Whereas in their case, they really know out of extensive experience. Therefore, they seek a path on which they find the means to eradicate the root of these confusions, the confusions of fear. As a result, they reach a state in which they eradicate the root completely so that there is no more rebirth. They see that rebirth is a very tiring job; it’s endless. Each time you take a new rebirth, you have to acquire all the means from the start. It is a tiring thing. No matter how much wisdom and experience you have gained in this life, if you are lucky enough, some of it may come through the transit. You pack your luggage really well, and then in transit, it is often the case that your luggage is lost. It’s a similar case for most of us. They see that you cannot really rely on the system. There is no refund (Karmapa laughing)—literally and metaphorically.
Therefore they try to go to the source—basically to find the “manager.” They see that the actual manager is none other than karma and disturbing emotions (Tib. kleshas); these are the two different alias names of the manager. They basically eradicate any causes and conditions that might induce rebirth. By cutting and eradicating that root, then there is a state, which is known as “arhathood,” or a state beyond suffering.
In Tibetan, it is known as myang ‘das or mya ngan las ´das pa, meaning “beyond suffering” or “past suffering.” It is a state in which there is no more rebirth. Shantideva is asking us to also rejoice in their endeavor, in their journey, in their accomplishment because it is not a simple thing. It’s not because we practice Mahayana or Vajrayana that we should somehow feel a sense of pride and think, “That is a lesser vehicle.” If we really understand where they are coming from, that truly commands our respect. Therefore, we rejoice for all those who are searching for this path, who are on the path, and who have already reached the destination. We rejoice for them. That’s the place in the text where it says, “from the miseries of cyclic existence.”
Then we rejoice in the accomplishments of the buddhas and also in the spiritual levels of “their Children.” This refers to the bodhisattvas, and it’s an interesting translation. Sometimes the translation states it in a more majestic way by saying, “Buddha’s heart prince” or “Buddha’s heart son.” Heart because the essence of the buddhas is none other than bodhicitta. And bodhisattvas are born out of practicing and cultivating bodhicitta. So they are known as the “heart sons.” In a very practical sense, they are their children, in terms of their activities. Because we are now trying to practice the ways of the bodhisattvas, the most important aspect is to try to learn, comprehend, and understand where they are coming from. The truth that they have found, the truth that they have understood is basically the same, almost identical, to that of the arhats. It is the same truth. The only difference is that somehow the bodhisattvas use the same logic on others; they use it in order to relate to others, in order to benefit others, in order to support others. But the truth is the same—there is no difference. But on the way of benefiting others, when you try to realize the truth, of course, there are certain additional factors that you need to know. I don’t know if this is the right way to put it, and I don’t know if I will anger fathers and mothers. But, in some ways, the bodhisattva way is somehow like being a mother.
Normally as a human being, you have to know what you need for yourself in order to survive, in order to continue your life, in order to sustain everything. In that regard, you need to know what is best for you. You need to know all the things that will help you. But in the case of a mother or, to put it generally, parents, not only do they have to know these things for themselves, they have to know the same things for their children too. In order to take care of their children, they have to learn some extra things. So it is the same truth, the same knowledge, but you need something extra on top. There are certain things that you cannot communicate to your children completely because of their age, their lack of experience, and so on. Therefore, you need to learn more ways to be able to truly benefit them, acquire more means, acquire different kinds of mediums, to be able to relate to them, to be able to truly support them. Somehow the bodhisattvas’ way is almost a way of becoming a parent.
The scriptures say that a bodhisattva not only needs to know the essence, the dharmakaya, but he or she also needs to acquire the means to gather the two other kayas, the sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya4 forms, because those are like mediums. You need these mediums to be able to relate to an infant, to someone who has reached puberty, to someone who has reached adolescence, and so on. Therefore, you need all these mediums. Thus these two kayas are basically like mediums.
Then we rejoice in the activities of the bodhisattvas, in their qualities, in their heart—in short, in their courage, one could say, because it takes tremendous courage. It is not just parenting a few but parenting all. This is something that we cannot imagine. We can imagine it to some extent: for example, nowadays we have presidents or prime ministers, according to our modern society. They are supposed to be like our parents. So without even focusing on any other political issues but just trying to relate to them as parents, we can imagine how much of a challenge that is, how much of a responsibility that is, because they really have to try to use every means they have at their disposal. They hardly have any time for themselves—forget their families—but even for themselves. Day in and day out, they actually have to parent everyone. Sometimes, they have to be tough; sometimes, they have to be kind, and so on. So there are some relatable examples.
However, the bodhisattvas’ way of parenting is something that we cannot imagine. We cannot imagine it even on a conceptual level. It is almost illogical. Probably that is one thing that we might have to try to understand. We have to approach the buddha dharma in an organic way—not in a mechanical way. The organic way means if you look at how organically plants grow, almost without any system, without a reason. They grow almost according to what is really needed, what is most essential. It is almost illogical in a way. One way of defining a bodhisattva’s quality or their courage would be to say: it is like an illogical way of parenting, almost without reason, reasonless.
Referring to Verse 4, one could say that we rejoice in the bodhicitta itself, in the quality itself. Or one could say it is the result, meaning the accomplishments of all the stages of their realization. Bodhisattvas’ qualities are often defined by their stages. That’s why we have the first bhumi5, the second bhumi, and so on. According to their stage of qualities, we are able to define what kind of bodhisattvas they are. All of them are able to really provide refuge to those needy sentient beings, like ourselves. Each of their qualities is almost immeasurable. We cannot count them by numbers. We cannot count them by size. We cannot count them by any measuring tool. They are immeasurable tools, immeasurable results that know no limit. Therefore, we rejoice in all the aspects of the realization, the final one being that of complete enlightenment, where there is no beginning, and there is no end in terms of its activity. Having rejoiced, we accumulate immense merit and wisdom.
This is followed by turning the Wheel of Dharma.
Verse 5
With folded hands I beseech
The Buddhas of all directions,
To shine the lamp of Dharma
For all bewildered in misery’s gloom.
Asking the buddhas to turn the wheel of dharma is another great way to accumulate merit and wisdom. To me personally, this particular practice defines the “gentlemanly nature of a buddha.” Although the enlightened state has no gender of course—maybe we can say the “gentleman-ness” or the “ladyship-ness” of the Buddha. Because buddhas are so decent, so proper, so noble that unless we ask for help, they would not presume to know everything—although they do know everything—and impose their will and their wishes.
There were many cases in the past, prior to Buddha Shakyamuni if you think in a linear time frame, or if not, in other worlds, there are, and there were cases, where, when someone became a fully enlightened being, others, for various reasons, maybe due to a tight schedule or whatever reasons, were not really able to ask the Buddha to turn the wheel of dharma, to teach the dharma. There were cases in which after reaching enlightenment, after three days, the Buddha entered into parinirvana6. And that was it—no one would know that there was actually a buddha. As a result, such universes live out their lifespan in what is known as a dark age, or dark era, or dark eon because there is no buddha dharma.
Compared to that, of course, we are very fortunate because upon the arrival of Buddha Shakyamuni, immediately one of the celestial beings became our ambassador, came down from heaven to earth, and asked Buddha Shakyamuni to turn the wheel of dharma. From then onwards, as a result, we have all these precious gifts, these precious jewels. Although our land is not a pure land, nevertheless, our age, our era, our eon is an enlightened eon. We are very fortunate. So now that we have the chance, then we also learn the ways of the bodhisattvas. We continuously ask the buddhas and bodhisattvas to turn the wheel of dharma so that all sentient beings benefit from it.
It is put in a very poetic manner, stating that the dharma resembles light and that the darkness or shadows of karma and kleshas are removed when the light of the dharma shines. Thus, we ask the buddhas and bodhisattvas fervently to turn the wheel of dharma with physical action by folding our hands, with perfect, pure speech, but most importantly, with pure intention. As always the intention is for the sake of all beings. It’s not just about learning the truth in general but learning the truth for the sake of all sentient beings. For that, the light of dharma is an absolute necessity.
Verse 6
I join my hands beseeching the enlightened ones
Who wish to pass into nirvana:
Do not leave us wandering in blindness,
Stay among us for unnumbered ages!
This is pretty simple to understand; it is more or less the same: asking them to remain and asking them to turn the wheel of dharma. Nevertheless, the bodhisattva’s practice encourages elaborate activities. Why? Because we must find every little means. We must turn every little moment, every little circumstance into a pure one. One could be very practical and say, “They are more or less the same, so therefore we could say six branches.” But no, they will make it complicated, so that we will be able to use every moment in a pure way. So similarly, we ask the buddhas to remain in the world.
Again the story goes that even our Buddha Shakyamuni—at that time he must have been 84 years old—during his last few years, said three times to his cousin-brother Ananda, his closest attendant, “A bodhisattva, a being who has accumulated such merit and such wisdom, is able to bless this physical body to remain for eons because they have accomplished that kind of auspicious connection; they have gathered those auspicious requirements.” He said it once, said it twice, and said it again one last time—and each time Ananda was either distracted or did not really understand the meaning.
Of course, every time the Buddha said something, Ananda listened with respect, with folded hands, and said, “Great, wonderful, oh Buddha.” Then he went about his business, begging for alms and so on. So therefore, by the third time, prior to the third message of the Buddha, it is said that the very being who has the merit to govern the desire realm, sometimes known as Mara… I don’t want to describe or depict Mara too much because then suddenly it looks like there is an absolute ego and there is an absolute savior, and so on. So in order not to give that kind of wrong impression, I don’t often say it, but since our mind is capable of creating anything, meaning there is no limit to our imagination, if you acquire the necessary means—meaning the merit—you can accomplish anything, in terms of governing whatever you want. It looks like someone may have made the wish, made the aspirations, and accumulated enough merit to be able to govern the whole of the desire realm. So Mara is like the president of the desire realm. So the president of the desire realm came down from his palace and made a request to the Buddha. Of course, they had great respect for each other, so he said, “Oh great Buddha, I think you have remained in this world for long enough. You have destroyed most of my plans. I humbly ask you to decline and take a holiday.”
Earlier on, there had been several occasions when Mara had already asked the same thing, but each time, Buddha Shakyamuni had avoided any answer. But by the third time, when Ananda did not really participate in asking the Buddha to remain, then Buddha realized that there was no real reason, no real karma for sentient beings for him to remain—not that Buddha did not know before and then later he did some research and found out. Somehow he understood all along that the last of the Twelve Deeds7 is actually a must. Otherwise sentient beings would develop a kind of nostalgia, a wrong impression that there is actually a creator, that there is an almighty, that there is an all-knowing, omniscient divinity who is eternal. Thus, to defeat the idea of eternalism, he realized from the very beginning that the Twelfth Deed is a must. He realized that fact very well. But just as I said before: compassion is illogical. Bodhicitta is illogical. Out of this illogicalness, Buddha told Ananda three times, indirectly saying that a buddha can actually remain forever if he wishes to—but somehow, Ananda proved that this was not going to be beneficial. So the Buddha actually accepted the wish of Mara, the president of the galaxy (Karmapa laughing), the president of the desire realm, and he only blessed his physical body to remain for three more months. During that time Buddha gave his final teachings and then displayed the parinirvana.
What we are trying to do is follow in the footsteps of the buddhas and bodhisattvas, which is to be illogical. We know that almost all buddhas would not remain in their physical body. They will guide sentient beings in various ways, but remaining in their physical body is something they usually won’t encourage because then it becomes very difficult to make others understand the impermanent nature of life. However, though we can understand some of this logic, nevertheless we try to be illogical—just like them—and ask them to remain forever, as long as there are sentient beings. We ask them to turn the wheel of dharma, to guide us all the way.
The last branch is that of dedication:
Verse 7
Thus by the virtue collected
Through all that I have done,
May the pain of every living creature
Be completely cleared away.
I think I have mentioned before that every aspect of the practice of the buddha dharma is virtuous. It is virtuous in the beginning, virtuous in the middle, and virtuous in the end. The practice of dedication shows just that—the virtue at the end: that once you have gathered all those merits, all that wisdom, finally, what do you do with it?
Most sentient beings, once they have that much merit, often become lost; they are in awe of all that merit. They do not know what to do with it. They spend it on unnecessary things, and, before you know it, they are bankrupt again.
Whereas in this case, one actually deposits it. If a wise person wins a lottery, the wisest thing to do is to deposit the winnings, as a long-term deposit. If you do that, it will secure your life. But often we don’t do that; we just blow our winnings away.
In the same way, one deposits these merits—but the whole act of depositing and the type of bank that we choose is a very unique one—we deposit in the bank of all sentient beings, and we deposit with the intention that it is for them, that it is for their benefit. The irony of it is that, as a result, we actually accumulate even more merit. It is the smartest way of investing.
You wholeheartedly offer every merit that you have gained, every wisdom that you have gained, not just in this life, not just in a few rebirths in the past, but in all rebirths, however many there have been. We do not complicate things by saying, “from such and such a time,” but we are just practical and say that we offer the merits that we have gained from the timeless rebirths that we have experienced; we offer them wholeheartedly to all sentient beings.
The coming three or four verses provide a practical guideline. One thing that comes to my mind is “Dedication for Dummies,” meaning that, in case we really do not know where to dedicate, because “to all sentient beings” sounds great, but what does it mean? In order to clarify that doubt, the author himself uses a few examples:
Verse 8
May I be the doctor and the medicine
And may I be the nurse
For all sick beings in the world
Until everyone is healed.
Verse 9
May a rain of food and drink descend
To clear away the pain of thirst and hunger
And during the aeon of famine
May I myself change into food and drink.
Verse 10
May I become an inexhaustible treasure
For those who are poor and destitute;
May I turn into all things they could need
And may these be placed close beside them.
These are a few examples that are given if you don’t know how to dedicate. Within our desire realm—unlike the celestial realms that are known as the form and formless realms—our desire realm has everything: it is rich, fertile with confusion, very vivid with dukkha8, whereas, in the celestial realms, there are just some nightmares, maybe, when they meditate for eons. Sometimes they have some wrong imaginations. Whereas in the desire realm, you have vivid experience of pain, of dukkha, meaning that all three forms of suffering, of confusion, are very apparent, very vivid. Therefore bodhisattvas would dedicate their merit to be able to clear all those forms of dukkha basically.
Within the desire realm, we have untimely death; we have aging; we have illnesses; we have plagues, war, famine, hunger. So the author, the bodhisattva Shantideva, shows us certain examples in terms of knowing the aim of our dedication so that we are able to dedicate to those who are sick, to those who are hungry, to those who are poor, and to those who are in pain from all forms of wars and battles. In most of the commentaries, some of the examples given are taken from what is known as the last stages of the Kali Yuga, the end of time, apocalypse, Seven Trumpets, Armageddon (Karmapa laughing). Basically, it is said that concerning the various stages of eons our world goes through, there is a certain stage in which it reaches the peak of society, and there’s another stage when it hits the rock bottom of society. We are close to hitting rock bottom. In the midst of that completely degenerate state, it is said that one would experience extreme famine, extreme hunger, and there would be almost global pain, such as hunger and war on a global scale. Therefore Shantideva dedicates all his merits and shows us that we should also dedicate in the same way to all those who will experience those stages. But of course, unlike other interpretations, these stages of the eons fluctuate; they go up and down. There is no real end to it because it is samsara. Then I think it is quite easy to understand the direct meaning of the verses:
Verse 11
Without any sense of loss
I shall give up my body and enjoyments
As well as all my virtues of the three times
For the sake of benefitting all.
Verse 12
By giving up all, sorrow is transcended
And my mind will realize the sorrowless state.
It is best that I [now] give everything to all beings
In the same way as I shall [at death].
The last verse is the last one of the dedication. It gives the practical reasons why it is logical to be illogical, meaning that dedicating is illogical to all of us because all our life we strive to acquire all kinds of means and suddenly this particular spirituality says, “Give it away. Dedicate it.” So it is illogical in a way. Shantideva is providing the logic here and is saying, “There is logic, and it is logical to be illogical.”
No matter how much we try to earn wealth, luxury, comfort, survival kits, or means, sooner or later it all dissolves. It all goes away. It’s almost like it’s taken away by the force of life. Since this is the case and it is apparent, isn’t it most wise to give it away consciously while you have the chance and turn the fact of having to leave everything into something beneficial? You can actually do something with it, so, therefore, why not dedicate it all now? That is actually more logical. Having said that, we do not really have to take it literally right now and abandon everything. Shantideva said that to get us motivated so that we don’t place so much priority on acquiring means for reasons that are not so wise.
So far, we have more or less completed the preparatory phase in order to establish, adopt, generate bodhicitta. The preparatory phase consists of accumulating immense merit, immense wisdom as a foundation, and that foundation is suitable to generate bodhicitta. From a scholarly point of view, there are a number of ways of defining bodhicitta.
Bodhicitta is a Sanskrit word that describes the attitude, the mind of the bodhisattvas. That is a very practical way of describing what bodhicitta (Tib. byang chub sems) is. Beginning scholars take years—and not just a few years but most of their lives—to understand what this means, by means of intellectual studies and meditation.
The thing that is described in the teachings of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni can only be understood, can only be realized, can only be identified, if we give it time. This doesn’t just mean being patient and waiting it out, but it’s more in terms of giving it time through both the intellect and through—in short I can simply say—meditation. Meditation is a general term to interpret the Tibetan word sgom/sgompa—but it is too general; therefore, we do not know the head or tail of it. That’s the thing. So bodhicitta, or the teachings of the Buddha, can be understood if we give it enough time actually, both through intellect and meditation.
- The six paramitas, or six liberating actions, are generosity, meaningful lifestyle, patience, joyful effort, meditation and liberating wisdom. ↩︎
- The seven branch wishes are implicit in the first seven verses of chapter three and are included in many Diamond Way meditations, such as the Guru Yoga of the Four Foundational Practices (Ngöndro). ↩︎
- Arhats are those practitioners who have attained complete liberation from suffering, the highest realization possible in Theravada. ↩︎
- The three kayas, or Buddha States: The truth state, dharmakaya, from which arise the joy state, sambhogakaya, and the emanation state, nirmanakaya. The experience of the union of the three Buddha states is known as the essence state, svabhavikakaya. ↩︎
- Bhumi refers to the levels of a bodhisattva. ↩︎
- Parinirvana is the state beyond samsara, or conditioned existence. Another expression for the death of a Buddha. ↩︎
- The twelve deeds refer to actions carried out by a buddha, such as Buddha Shakyamuni: descent from the Tushita pure land, entering the mother’s womb, taking birth, becoming skilled in various arts, delighting in the company of royal consorts, developing renunciation and becoming ordained, practicing austerities for six years, proceeding to the foot of the bodhi tree, overcoming Mara’s hosts, becoming fully enlightened, turning the wheel of dharma, and passing into parinirvana, the last of the twelve deeds referred to here. ↩︎
- Dukkha basically means suffering. ↩︎
