Chögyam Trungpa - The bodhisattva path of wisdom and compassion Volume 2

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma represents meditation master Chgyam Trungpas greatest contribution to Western Buddhism. This three-volume collection presents in lively, relevant language the comprehensive teachings of the Tibetan Buddhist path of the hinayana, mahayana, and vajrayana. This work will resonate with new students of Buddhism as well as the most senior students.

The second volume, The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion, presents the bodhisattva teachings of the mahayana. At this point, having trained and seen the benefits of looking within, the student begins to shift their focus outward to the broader world. Formal entry into the mahayana occurs with taking the bodhisattva vow. Mahayana practitioners dedicate themselves to the service of all sentient beings, aspiring to save them from sorrow and confusion, and vowing to bring them to perfect liberation. This stage of the path emphasizes the cultivation of wisdom through the view and experience of emptiness, or shunyata, in which all phenomena are seen to be unbounded, completely open, ungraspable, and profound. From the ground of shunyata, compassionate activity is said to arise naturally and spontaneously. In addition to mindfulness and awareness, the mahayanist practices lojong, or mind training, based on the cultivation of the paramitas, or transcendent virtues: generosity, discipline, patience, exertion, meditation, and prajna, or knowledge. As a component of lojong, tonglen, or sending and taking, is practiced in order to increase maitri, or loving-kindness. Other topics covered in detail in this volume include bodhichitta, skillful means, Buddha nature and basic goodness, Madhyamaka, the ten bhumis, the three kayas, and more.

CHGYAM TRUNGPA (19401987)meditation master, teacher, and artistfounded Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, the first Buddhist-inspired university in North America; the Shambhala Training program; and an international association of meditation centers known as Shambhala International. He is the author of numerous books including Shambhala: Sacred Path of the Warrior , Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism , and The Myth of Freedom .

JUDITH L. LIEF is an acharya, or senior teacher, in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage of Chgyam Trungpa.

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T HE P ROFOUND T REASURY OF THE O CEAN OF D HARMA

V OLUME O NE

The Path of Individual Liberation

V OLUME T WO

The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion

V OLUME T HREE

The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness

Published in association with Vajradhatu Publications, a division of Shambhala Media. www.shambhalamedia.org.

VOLUME TWO

THE PROFOUND TREASURY OF THE OCEAN OF DHARMA

The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion

CHGYAM TRUNGPA

COMPILED AND EDITED BY

Judith L. Lief

S HAMBHALA B OSTON & L ONDON 2013

Shambhala Publications, Inc.

Horticultural Hall

300 Massachusetts Avenue

Boston, Massachusetts 02115

www.shambhala.com

2013 by Diana J. Mukpo

Cover art: Maitreya. Japan, 14th century.

Frontispiece: Chgyam Trungpa Rinpoche at Lake Louise, Canada, in formal Zen robes, holding a ritual scepter or nyoi (Jpn.). Photograph Ray Ellis. Used with permission.

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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

L IBRARY OF C ONGRESS C ATALOGING-IN -P UBLICATION D ATA

Trungpa, Chgyam, 19391987.

The profound treasury of the ocean of dharma / Chgyam Trungpa; compiled and edited by Judith L. Lief.First Edition.

pages cm

Compilation of Chgyam Trungpa Rinpoches Vajradhatu Seminary teachings in three volumes.

Includes index.

eISBN 978-0-8348-2859-9 (eBook: vol. 2)

ISBN 978-1-59030-708-3 (hardcover: alk. paper; set)

ISBN 978-1-59030-802-8 (hardcover: alk. paper; vol. 1)

ISBN 978-1-59030-803-5 (hardcover: alk. paper; vol. 2)

ISBN 978-1-59030-804-2 (hardcover: alk. paper; vol. 3)

1. BuddhismDoctrines. I. Lief, Judith L., editor of compilation. II. Title.

BQ4165.T75 2013

294.34dc23

2012022795

CONTENTS

THE FOUNDATION OF HINAYANA AND THE TRANSITION TO THE MAHAYANA

The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion is the second of the three volumes of The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma . This volume focuses on the mahayana path. In the previous volume, Chgyam Trungpa Rinpoche presents the hinayana path of individual liberation, and in the final volume he introduces the vajrayana, or the path of complete awakening. By presenting the dharmic path as a natural progression that begins with the hinayana, expands into the mahayana, and reaches its fruition in the vajrayana, Trungpa Rinpoche provides the reader with a complete map of the spiritual journey from confusion to enlightenment.

In teaching about the three stages of the path, Trungpa Rinpoche presented each stage as having its own integrity and power, and taught his students to see each stage as complete in its own right. He especially cautioned students not to denigrate the hinayana or skip the mahayana in favor of what they might consider the more powerful or exotic vajrayana, but to see the three stages, or yanas , as an interconnected whole, and as one continuous journey.

Trungpa Rinpoche went so far as to rouse his students from their sleep for a spontaneous talk late at night during the 1986 Seminary in order to drive this point home. In this pithy and impassioned talk, he remarked, [The hinayana] is to be understood as the life force that carries on whether you are going through the hinayana, mahayana, or vajrayana.... The hinayana should be regarded as lifes strength.

Trungpa Rinpoche made it clear that hinayana teachings are not just introductory, but reverberate throughout the path; they are the foundation on which the entire path is built. The logic in beginning with the hinayana is that if you would like to help others, you must first be willing to work on yourself.

At the same time, although working on yourself is essential, according to Trungpa Rinpoche it is not enough. Sooner or later you need to start thinking about others. The world is vast and it needs help. Therefore, it is important to take the further step of entering the mahayana path of inseparable wisdom and compassion, and to balance your own individual training with service to others.

READING THE DHARMA

According to Trungpa Rinpoche, You should try to connect what you study to your personal experience. Each aspect of the dharma is based on personal experience, so you can relate the dharma to what you experience on the spot. So in studying these teachings, you could deepen your understanding by balancing your intellectual study with meditative practice and personal reflection. Scholarship without practice is of limited value, as is practice without scholarship; but the combination of the two is both powerful and transformative.