The Tree of Enlightenment

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e clarity of that flash remains for a long time impressed upon one’s mind, and enables one to continue on one’s way knowing that one is proceeding in the right direction. e first glimpse of nirvana achieved by the stream-winner serves as the orientation by which he directs his progress toward nirvana. One might almost liken this gradual development of insight to the acquisition of a skill. After first managing to bicycle a few yards without falling, it may be some time before one becomes an expert cyclist. But having successfully ridden those first few yards, one never forgets that experience and can confidently progress toward one’s goal. It is in this sense that contemplation of the three characteristics leads to the three doors of liberation: the door of signlessness, the door of wishlessness, and the door of emptiness. Contemplating the characteristic of impermanence leads to the door of signlessness; contemplating suffering leads to the door of wishlessness, or freedom from desire; and contemplating notself leads to the door of emptiness. ese three doors of liberation are the culmination of meditation on the three universal characteristics. us one gradually progresses through the four stages of enlightenment and eventually achieves Arhatship, that stage of victory over the afflictions in which the unwholesome roots of greed, ill-will, and delusion are totally removed. Having uprooted the afflictions, the Arhat is free from the cycle of birth and death and is no longer reborn. Despite some attempts to tarnish it with the charge of selfishness, the goal of Arhatship is a beneficial and compassionate mode of being. One need only look at the Buddha’s instructions 354
to his eminent Arhat disciples, and also at the careers of these disciples, to see that in the time of the Buddha Arhatship was not a passive or selfish state of being. Sariputta, Moggallana, and others were actively engaged in teaching both the laity and other members of the Buddhist Order. e Buddha himself exhorted his Arhat disciples to go forth for the benefit of the many. e goal of Arhatship is a glorious and worthy one that ought not be depreciated in any way by the fact that the Buddhist tradition also acknowledges the goal of the private or individual Buddha (Pachcheka Buddha) and the goal of Buddhahood. 355
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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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is compassion for all living beings
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CHAPTER FIFTEEN e otus utra T he pe
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physician who has been away from ho
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Just as each plant benefits from ra
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nations of his children, the father
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But because our ambitions and aspir
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the Mahayana tradition. It is also
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e passage from wisdom to the perfec
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independent existence of things. On
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ory as well as to meditation. In th
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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN e ankavatara utra
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speaks does not participate in thes
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and nirvana, both the phenomenal wo
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(1) the transcendental dimension is
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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN e hilosophy of the
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the sutras, and in the approach of
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It is interesting to note that thes
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far as cause and effect are identic
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say that perception is proved by it
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there’: they depend, rather, on t
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CHAPTER NINETEEN e hilosophy of ind
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opment of Buddhist thought. We all
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milk, but it would appear as nectar
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ern science. e atom as well as its
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the source of the phenomenalizing a
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to cause and effect, to samsara. e
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that the philosophy of emptiness wa
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Just as this was taking place withi
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ience suffused by great bliss. Whil
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it white, blue, or otherwise?’ Su
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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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Page 310 and 311: CHAPTER THIRTY n ntroduion to the b
Page 312 and 313: is said that when he returned to ea
Page 314 and 315: and so forth. is is the difference
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Page 318 and 319: ticularly interested here. ese are
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Page 322 and 323: emained silent, and after a time Va
Page 324 and 325: CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO ethodology I n t
Page 326 and 327: already have some intellectual acqu
Page 328 and 329: To arrive at the ultimate picture o
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Page 332 and 333: CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE nalysis of ons
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Page 336 and 337: ditioned by any of the three unwhol
Page 338 and 339: we have fifty-four types of conscio
Page 340 and 341: CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR e orm and ormle
Page 342 and 343: as evidence of the existence of a t
Page 344 and 345: ‘striking,’ or ‘mounting.’
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Page 348 and 349: CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE upramundane ons
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Page 352 and 353: consciousness, the fruit consciousn
Page 356 and 357: CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX nalysis of ental
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Page 360 and 361: e third group of unwholesome mental
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Page 364 and 365: CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN nalysis of oug
Page 366 and 367: Heedlessness is the source of death
Page 368 and 369: ere are four types of physical thou
Page 370 and 371: sciousness, too, are either wholeso
Page 372 and 373: where he is. He stretches out his a
Page 374 and 375: ply have subjective and objective f
Page 376 and 377: porary thought about matter. Scient
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Page 380 and 381: e only way we can avoid this plural
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Page 384 and 385: vious karma has an influence and se
Page 386 and 387: lar way identifiable in terms of th
Page 388 and 389: CHAPTER FORTY e irty-even aors of n
Page 390 and 391: Mindfulness with regard to the body
Page 392 and 393: Truths and in the destruction of th
Page 394 and 395: iver the eastern part and the other
Page 396 and 397: ment, equanimity is that integrated
Page 398 and 399: are the keys to self-development, a
Page 400 and 401: of right effort, right mindfulness,
Page 402: conditioned, relative, and empty na
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The Tree of Enlightenment

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