The Tree of Enlightenment

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But because our ambitions and aspirations are paltry, the Buddha has set us disciplines whereby we will gradually develop and expand our vision until we realize our true nature and kinship and are ready to accept this inheritance of Buddhahood. e central theme of the Lotus Sutra is the working of skillful means out of great compassion. Out of great compassion, the Buddhas appear in the world. Out of great compassion, they exercise their skillful means in countless ways, through countless forms, devices, practices, and vehicles. All these are calculated to suit the varying capacities and inclinations of sentient beings so that each one can, in his or her own way and time, aspire to and achieve full and perfect enlightenment, the enlightenment of the Buddha. It is because of this message – with its universality, optimism, and encouragement for all – that the Mahayana tradition has been able to win such phenomenal popularity not only in India but also in Central and East Asia. 168
CHAPTER SIXTEEN e eart utra I n this chapter we will discuss a very important class of Mahayana literature that concerns the perfection of wisdom (prajnaparamita). But before we look at the texts themselves, it may be useful to examine the meaning of the term prajnaparamita and the history of the Perfection of Wisdom discourses. e term prajna, which is often translated ‘wisdom’ or ‘insight,’ is composed of the prefix pra and the root jna which means knowledge. Pra added to the root jna gives the sense of spontaneity, penetration, transcendentality. One might therefore better translate prajna as ‘penetrative or special knowledge or wisdom.’ e term paramita is most often translated ‘perfection’; other popular translations include ‘gone beyond,’ ‘transcendental,’ and even ‘the climax of’ wisdom. We will understand the term better if we notice its similarity to the English words ‘parameter’ and ‘meter,’ both of which concern measurement or limit. In paramita, therefore, we have a word that indicates ‘going beyond the limit.’ us the whole term prajnaparamita ought to be understood to mean ‘penetrative wisdom or insight gone beyond the limit.’ If we remember this, we will avoid the danger of thinking of the perfection of wisdom as something static or fixed. is inevitably happens because the word ‘perfection’ conjures up images of an unchanging, perfected condition. Yet in the perfection of wisdom we have a dynamic idea – the idea of a penetrative wisdom or insight that transcends the limit, that is transcendental. e perfection of wisdom is one of the Six Perfections of 169
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The Tree of Enlightenment Dr Peter
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CONTENTS About the Author..........
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Part ree he ajrayana Chapter Twenty
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out the uthor P eter Della Santina
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uthor’s ote F rom 1983 to 1985 wh
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ship. Finally, I want to thank all
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CHAPTER ONE uddhism: odern erspeiv
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mind, while in traditionally Buddhi
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is story illustrates the practical
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one’s own personal experience is
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e procedure adopted here is analyti
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transformation, whereas in Buddhism
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emained separate and distinct, but
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coveries at Mohenjo-daro and Harapp
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Whereas in the religion of the Indu
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look at some of the prominent facts
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Buddhism was a protest against, or
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CHAPTER THREE e ife of the uddha N
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inated by the correctives of renunc
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Siddhartha, being the faster runner
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permanently put an end to suffering
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CHAPTER FOUR e our oble ruths W ith
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the formula of the Four Noble Truth
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measures to remedy the disease. Suc
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lives often brings us into contact
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all right, but it would be still be
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as we take the tree stump to be a p
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ply because we have not experienced
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emedy the situation here and now, t
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earth, water, fire, and air, the su
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overly tight string produces an unp
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CHAPTER FIVE orality I n Chapter 4
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you will find that the basic rules
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In this context, right speech impli
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ever, some of the developments in r
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Very briefly, these are the origin,
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CHAPTER SIX ental evelopment I n th
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ing the way we experience things an
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itself. Indeed, if you look at the
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Recognizing the value and importanc
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the mind on the object without dist
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CHAPTER SEVEN isdom W ith this chap
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Buddhism, faith is preliminary and
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when you are sure you have understo
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will experience the happy effects o
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greed, anger, envy, and jealousy. I
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of samsara, the cycle of birth and
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others are less fortunate, why some
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In the same way, according to the l
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Here we can see at work the princip
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Similarly, there are five alternati
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in heaven can we escape our karma.
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CHAPTER NINE ebirth I n this chapte
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convincing case for the reality of
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death, we are reborn at every momen
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ey suffer from the human beings who
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ealms is undesirable. e three lower
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continue to circle endlessly among
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Page 120 and 121: On the basis of the Buddha’s own
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Page 124 and 125: less lives, combined with new actio
Page 126 and 127: impurities are eliminated, actions
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Page 130 and 131: can understand that fire is hot and
Page 132 and 133: is process of the constant change o
Page 134 and 135: emember the certainty of our own de
Page 136 and 137: their techniques of meditation and
Page 138 and 139: Although we know that certain thoug
Page 140 and 141: And when wisdom arises, we experien
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Page 146 and 147: We discussed this in Chapter 11, wh
Page 148 and 149: CHAPTER THIRTEEN e undamentals in r
Page 150 and 151: art wo e ahayana
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Page 154 and 155: dissemination of the Dharma. During
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Page 158 and 159: is compassion for all living beings
Page 160 and 161: CHAPTER FIFTEEN e otus utra T he pe
Page 162 and 163: physician who has been away from ho
Page 164 and 165: Just as each plant benefits from ra
Page 166 and 167: nations of his children, the father
Page 170 and 171: the Mahayana tradition. It is also
Page 172 and 173: e passage from wisdom to the perfec
Page 174 and 175: independent existence of things. On
Page 176 and 177: ory as well as to meditation. In th
Page 178 and 179: CHAPTER SEVENTEEN e ankavatara utra
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Page 182 and 183: and nirvana, both the phenomenal wo
Page 184 and 185: (1) the transcendental dimension is
Page 186 and 187: CHAPTER EIGHTEEN e hilosophy of the
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Page 190 and 191: It is interesting to note that thes
Page 192 and 193: far as cause and effect are identic
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Page 198 and 199: CHAPTER NINETEEN e hilosophy of ind
Page 200 and 201: opment of Buddhist thought. We all
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Page 204 and 205: ern science. e atom as well as its
Page 206 and 207: the source of the phenomenalizing a
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Page 210 and 211: that the philosophy of emptiness wa
Page 212 and 213: Just as this was taking place withi
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the apparatus needed to produce a m
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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE ahayana uddhism
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for the practice of unwholesome act
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mothers to you, should continue to
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dom. Similarly, without a concentra
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tary reassociation with fictitious
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ese three bodies or dimensions of B
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CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO e rigins of the
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Let us spend a moment on the origin
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throughout India. Nagarjuna and Asa
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Asanga asked, ‘Where have you bee
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was also a professor at Nalanda. On
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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE hilosophical a
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y a magician using certain magical
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e object now appears to him without
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Mahayana both in its starting point
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CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR ethodology A s
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death, whereas nirvana is unconditi
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and nirvana is intellectual or dire
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us we can see that not only are obj
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lizes a variety of phenomena, and t
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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE yth and ymbolis
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necklaces of severed heads, ornamen
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of knowledge in the Garden of Eden.
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alike, the name of a thing is a sou
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Red, which is the color of fire, is
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On the broadest level, we have been
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e idea of interpenetration is found
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the realm of the hell beings. It is
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sees no distinction between samsara
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ody of each individual person. ey a
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You can see how, in the Vajrayana t
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(4) death and impermanence, and (5)
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that these general preliminaries ar
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and others require alternative ritu
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of conditioned reality, they do not
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it is then the task of the practiti
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CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT e ajrayana nit
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formation of the five aggregates in
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eserved for actually introducing th
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environment, the situation of the i
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initiation. ese methods or keys are
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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE ajrayana uddhis
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ties, and his achievement of Buddha
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the tutelary deity, in other words,
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and the sound of the mantra so that
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CHAPTER THIRTY n ntroduion to the b
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is said that when he returned to ea
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and so forth. is is the difference
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ontology, which means the study of
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ticularly interested here. ese are
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esponsibility because if the self i
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emained silent, and after a time Va
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CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO ethodology I n t
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already have some intellectual acqu
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To arrive at the ultimate picture o
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these component parts do not exist
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CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE nalysis of ons
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(lokiya) and are concerned with the
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ditioned by any of the three unwhol
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we have fifty-four types of conscio
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CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR e orm and ormle
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as evidence of the existence of a t
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‘striking,’ or ‘mounting.’
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formless-sphere absorption, which d
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CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE upramundane ons
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ness (the fruit consciousness of th
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consciousness, the fruit consciousn
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e clarity of that flash remains for
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CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX nalysis of ental
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to a particular object whereas atte
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e third group of unwholesome mental
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disassociated with knowledge, or as
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CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN nalysis of oug
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Heedlessness is the source of death
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ere are four types of physical thou
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sciousness, too, are either wholeso
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where he is. He stretches out his a
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ply have subjective and objective f
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porary thought about matter. Scient
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sciousness. is intermediate positio
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e only way we can avoid this plural
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existence, (12) repetition, (13) ka
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vious karma has an influence and se
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lar way identifiable in terms of th
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CHAPTER FORTY e irty-even aors of n
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Mindfulness with regard to the body
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Truths and in the destruction of th
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iver the eastern part and the other
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ment, equanimity is that integrated
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are the keys to self-development, a
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of right effort, right mindfulness,
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conditioned, relative, and empty na
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The Tree of Enlightenment

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