The Tree of Enlightenment

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to cause and effect, to samsara. e ultimate truth in the Middle Way philosophy is similar to the perfected nature in the Mind Only philosophy, and in both systems this corresponds to emptiness, nonduality, non-origination, and nirvana. What in the Middle Way school is interdependent origination – the link between samsara and nirvana – is the dependent nature in the Mind Only school. Mind is of the utmost importance to both interdependent origination and the dependent nature. Mind is the essence of both. In both systems we have the conventional, samsaric, illusory reality on the one hand, and the ultimate, nirvanic, perfected reality on the other; mediating between the two is the principle of relativity, the principle of dependence, which is of the essence of mind. In Chapter 20 we will further explore the parallelism between the Middle Way philosophy and the Mind Only philosophy. We will then try to apply the combined vision of these philosophies to the practice of the Mahayana path. 208
CHAPTER TWENTY e evelopment of ahayana hilosophy I n this chapter I would like to consider the further development of Mahayana philosophy in India, the relationship between the Middle Way philosophy and the Mind Only philosophy, and how these two influence the religious and practical traditions of Buddhism. We have discussed the Middle Way and Mind Only philosophies in Chapter 18 and Chapter 19, but have merely sketched the outlines of Mahayana philosophy. e philosophy of the Middle Way, as presented by Nagarjuna, and that of Mind Only, as presented by Asanga and Vasubandhu, are the twofold basis of the Mahayana tradition, forming its general foundation as it evolved during the first four centuries of the common era. is period was followed by another eight hundred years of philosophical development of the Mahayana tradition in India, not to mention its continuing development in the other countries of Asia to which Buddhism traveled – China, Korea, Japan, Tibet, and Mongolia. To gain a comprehensive picture of this development in India, I would like to trace the interaction between the Middle Way and Mind Only schools from the fourth century c.e. to the end of the first millennium. Let us look first at what took place in the Middle Way school. e principles set forth by Nagarjuna were elaborated by his disciples and successors, beginning with Aryadeva. Whereas Nagarjuna’s primary concern had been to establish the authenticity of the philosophy of emptiness in opposition to the earlier schools of Buddhist philosophy, Aryadeva’s was to demonstrate 209
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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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tinuity of cause and effect exists,
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On the basis of the Buddha’s own
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in this life result in rebirth in a
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less lives, combined with new actio
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impurities are eliminated, actions
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objective is admirably achieved thr
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can understand that fire is hot and
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is process of the constant change o
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emember the certainty of our own de
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their techniques of meditation and
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Although we know that certain thoug
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And when wisdom arises, we experien
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for a collection of trees. In this
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to turn an indefinite experience in
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We discussed this in Chapter 11, wh
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CHAPTER THIRTEEN e undamentals in r
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art wo e ahayana
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to have taught innumerable living b
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dissemination of the Dharma. During
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school of realistic pluralism known
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Page 160 and 161: CHAPTER FIFTEEN e otus utra T he pe
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Page 164 and 165: Just as each plant benefits from ra
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Page 168 and 169: But because our ambitions and aspir
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 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
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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
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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Page 220 and 221: CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE ahayana uddhism
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Page 226 and 227: dom. Similarly, without a concentra
Page 228 and 229: tary reassociation with fictitious
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Page 232 and 233: CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO e rigins of the
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Page 236 and 237: throughout India. Nagarjuna and Asa
Page 238 and 239: Asanga asked, ‘Where have you bee
Page 240 and 241: was also a professor at Nalanda. On
Page 242 and 243: CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE hilosophical a
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Page 246 and 247: e object now appears to him without
Page 248 and 249: Mahayana both in its starting point
Page 250 and 251: CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR ethodology A s
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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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