Class 10 - Three Jewels per Hearer Tenets

Download PDF's of Class Handouts, Notes, and MP3 Tracks from the 10th class of Spring 2012 term held on Monday, April 30:

DOWNLOAD Handouts - text for Class 10:

Handout 10 (rev. 05/03/12) -  Asanga’s Four Aspects of Taking Refuge by, #2 - Knowing the distinctions (of the three Jewels) based on, cont.:  (e) Recollection; (f) How to Increase Merit.  #3 - Through Commitment.  #4 - Refusing to acknowledge other refuges. Introduction to IBD’s texts by Panchen Sonam Drakpa: General Meaning (སྤྱི་དོན།) and debate manual, Decisive Analysis (མཐའ་དཔྱོད།). General Meaning: 5 Topics explain Three Refuge Objects.  #1 -  Three- fold explanation of Necessity for Scriptures' presentation of Three Refuge Objects: (i) Buddha Jewel; (ii) Dharma Jewel.

Handout 11 - General Meaning's 5 Topics that explain Three Refuge Objects, cont.:  #1 - (iii) Necessity for Scriptural presentation of Sangha Refuge Object.  Causal & Refuge Objects for Bodhisattvas, Hearers & Solitary Realizers (chart).  #2 - Identifying the nature (i.e., meaning) of the three objects of refuge (in two ways):  Nature (i.e., meaning)  of the three Jewels according to a) Hearer Tenets (Vaibashika & Sautantrika Tenets) [i.e., Buddha & Sangha (as persons) are not Refuge Jewels; Buddha & Sangha Jewels are aspects of the Dharma].

ALL SPRING 2012 PDF Handouts are HERE.

DOWNLOAD MP3 TRACKS:

Track 1 - Review presentations of Refuge & sources for textbooks used in the Geluk tradition at IBD.  Panchen Sonam Drakpa’s General Meaning:

Five Topics expound Three Jewels.

• Topic 1 - Necessity for Scriptures' presentation of Three Refuge Objects: 
• Resultant Objects of Refuge - posited by different aims of Hearers, Solitary Realizers and Bodhisattvas:
• Buddha = Bodhisattva’s main Resultant Refuge Jewel.
• Dharma = Solitary Realizer’s main Resultant Refuge Jewel.
• Sangha = Hearer’s main Resultant Refuge Jewel.

• Causal Objects of Refuge 
• Six Persons (Three on Path and Three with inclinations) have three Goals.
• Why Handout 10 and Handout 11 have been revised:  Translation has been changed from potential to inclination, i.e., “Mahayana potential, Solitary Realizer potential, Hinayana potential” is changed to "Mahayana inclination," etc.

Track 2 - Hearer Tenet (ཉན་ཐོས་སྟེ་པ་) assertions that identify the meaning of each Jewel:  (i.e., Vaibhāṣika, Great Exposition - བྱེ་བྲག་སྨྲ་བ་ & Sautrāntika, Sutra School - མདོ་སྡེ་པ་ tenets.)

• re Buddha Jewel:
• Shakyamuni Buddha entered the world as an Ordinary Person: Born with an ordinary body that was retained after Enlightenment;
• Hence, Shakyamuni Buddha is not a Buddha Jewel.

Track 3 - Hearer Tenets distinguish Buddha from the Buddha Jewel & Sangha from the Sangha Jewel

• Qualities of Omniscient Mind of a Buddha per:
• Hearer Tenets – Buddha’s Mind Knows All Phenomena
• Mahayana Tenets – Buddha’s Mind Knows All Phenomena Simultaneously.

Buddha Jewel per Hearer Tenets:

• Exalted Wisdom that Knows the Extinction and Non-Production:  (i.e., Omniscient Mind knows the extinction of all obscurations and the non-production of all obscurations). (Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakhosha).
• What does it mean to be a Buddha?   
• Mahayana terminology:  Exalted Knower of All Aspects

Sangha Jewel per Hearer Tenets: 

• Uncontaminated Exalted Wisdom in the Continua of Learners & No-More-Learners.

•  Learner Paths:  Ordinary & Sublime. 
•  No Common Locus between the Three Jewels per Hearer Tenets.
• "Sangha Jewels which are No More Learners are those Two" (Arya Hearer No More Learners and Arya Solitary Realizer No More Learners), but "not the third" (Bodhisattva No More Learners)

Track 4 - Dharma Jewel per Hearer Tenets:

• Dharma Jewel is Nirvana, i.e., Cessation of Afflictive Obstructions & Cognitive Obstructions.

Three Jewels per Hearer tenets:

• Three Jewels are all aspects of the Dharma:
• Buddha Jewel - Path (of No More Learning) in the continuum of Buddha;
• Dharma Jewel - Cessations (Nirvana).
• Sangha Jewel -  Paths in the continuum of Aryas (not Buddhas). 

• Persons are not Buddha Jewels.  
• There is no common locus between the Three Jewels (e.g., Buddhas are not Sangha Jewels).
• assert Three Final Vehicles.
• Buddha is Not a Buddha Jewel because Shakyamuni Buddha has an ordinary (impure) body. 
• Theravadan practitioners today do not necessarily assert Hearer Tenets.

Three Jewels per Mahayana tenets:
(i.e., Cittamātra - Mind Only - སེམས་ཙམ་པ་  & Mādhyamika - Middle Way - དབུ་མ་པ་ tenets)

• Buddha Jewel refers to all the qualities of the Buddha.  
• Dharma Jewel refers to Cessations of Afflictive obstructions & Cognitive obstructions and Arya Paths.  
• Sangha Jewel refers to persons who have those Arya Paths and Cessations in their continua.
• Shakyamuni Buddha is a Buddha Jewel, a Supreme Nirmanakāya [བཟོ་བོ་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་].
• Mahayana practitioners are not necessarily equivalent to Mahayana Tenet Holders .

NOTES of Class 10 (April 30) rough draft transcript of class offered for what it's worth.

If any of the LINKS don't work, please leave a COMMENT or notify us by E-Mail.

This is the 10th class of the Spring 2012 term Perfection of Wisdom course
which addresses Refuge, the 3rd sub-topic of the 2nd Topic
(Mahayana Practice Instructions) of Chapter 1 of Maitreya's
Ornament for Clear Realizations - Abhisamayalamkara.

Class 9 - Common Loci (3 Jewels/4 Truths); 6 types of practitioners' Resultant Refuges

Download PDF's of Class Handouts, Notes, and MP3 Tracks from the 9th class of Spring 2012 term held on Friday, April 27:

DOWNLOAD Handouts - text for Class 9:

Handout 10 (rev. 05/03/12) -  Asanga’s Four Aspects of Taking Refuge by, #2 - Knowing the distinctions (of the three Jewels) based on, cont.:  (e) Recollection; (f) How to Increase Merit.  #3 - Through Commitment.  #4 - Refusing to acknowledge other refuges. Introduction to IBD’s texts by Panchen Sonam Drakpa: General Meaning (སྤྱི་དོན།) and debate manual, Decisive Analysis (མཐའ་དཔྱོད།). General Meaning: 5 Topics explain Three Refuge Objects.  #1 -  Three- fold explanation of Necessity for Scriptures' presentation of Three Refuge Objects: (i) Buddha Jewel; (ii) Dharma Jewel.

Handout 11 - General Meaning's 5 Topics that explain Three Refuge Objects, cont.:  #1 - (iii) Necessity for Scriptural presentation of Sangha Refuge Object.  Causal & Refuge Objects for Bodhisattvas, Hearers & Solitary Realizers (chart).  #2 - Identifying the nature (i.e., meaning) of the three objects of refuge (in two ways):  Nature (i.e., meaning)  of the three Jewels according to a) Hearer Tenets (Vaibashika & Sautantrika Tenets) [i.e., Buddha & Sangha (as persons) are not Refuge Jewels; Buddha & Sangha Jewels are aspects of the Dharma].

ALL SPRING 2012 PDF Handouts are HERE.

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Track 1 - Common Loci between the Three Jewels & Four Noble Truths,   Explanation of Common Locus (i.e., something that is both) between any Object of Refuge and any of the Four Noble Truths:

• Truth of Suffering     
• Sangha Jewel
• Truth of Origin
• Nothing that is both.  
• Truth of Cessation
• Buddha Jewel (Svabhāvikakāya)
• Dharma Jewel
• Truth of Path
• Buddha Jewel (i.e., Omniscient Mind & Path of No More Learning)
• Dharma Jewel

Track 2 - [Handout 10, p. 2] – General Meaning by Panchen Sonam Drakpa:  

• How does “Mahayana Practice” (explained by way of 10 Practice Instructions): “possess as its basis the three objects of refuge”? 

(1st of 5 Topics in General Meaning that explain Three Refuge Objects): 
Three-fold explanation of Necessity for Scriptures' presentation of Three Refuge Objects: Buddha Jewel; Dharma Jewel.

(i) Reasons the Buddha Jewel is Necessary Object of Refuge.  All Three Jewels are:

• Causal Objects of Refuge for all Buddhist practitioners; 
• Not the primary Resultant Objects of Refuge for all Buddhist practitioners.
• Six Types of Buddhist Practitioners:
• Three types are persons who have already entered the Path of Accumulation of one of the Three Vehicles (Hearer, Solitary Realizer or Bodhisattva).
• Three types are persons who have not yet entered the Path of Accumulation of one of the Three Vehicles but possess either: 
• Mahayana potential/inclination; 
• Hearer potential/inclination; or 
• Solitary Realizer potential/inclination.
• Those who have potential/inclination for one of the Three Vehicles are those Buddhist practitioners who have not entered the Path of Accumulation but have (Mahayana/Hearer or Solitary) inclination.

Track 3 -  (ii) Reasons the Dharma Jewel is Necessary Object of Refuge.
(iii)  Reasons the Sangha Jewel is Necessary Object of Refuge.  [Handout 11]

Primary Resultant Refuge Aspirations of Six Types of Practitioners

Resultant Buddha Jewel - Bodhisattvas (& those with Mahayana inclination), 

Resultant Dharma Jewel - Solitary Realizers (& those with Solitary Realizer inclination), 

Resultant Sangha Jewel - Hearers (& those with Hearer inclination).

Introduction to assertions regarding the Three Jewels:  Hearer Tenets - ཉན་ཐོས་སྟེ་པ་ (Vaibhāṣika / Great Exposition - བྱེ་བྲག་སྨྲ་བ་ - & Sautrāntika / Sutra school - མདོ་སྡེ་པ་) .

• Distinction:  Hearers are not necessarily Hearer Tenets Holders.
• Buddha & Buddha Jewel and Sangha & Sangha Jewel are different per Vaibhāṣika & Sautrāntika tenets.

NOTES of Class 9 (April 27) rough draft transcript of class offered for what it's worth.

If any of the LINKS don't work, please leave a COMMENT or notify us by E-Mail.

This is the 9th class of the Spring 2012 term Perfection of Wisdom course
which addresses Refuge, the 3rd sub-topic of the 2nd Topic
(Mahayana Practice Instructions) of Chapter 1 of Maitreya's
Ornament for Clear Realizations - Abhisamayalamkara.

Class 8 - Kayas, Distinguishing Three Jewels

Download PDF's of Class Handouts, Notes, and MP3 Tracks from the 8th class of Spring 2012 term held on Wednesday, April 25:

DOWNLOAD Handouts - text for Class 8:

2012 Handout 9 – Asanga’s Four Aspects of Taking Refuge by, #1 - Knowing Good Qualities of:  I. Buddha’s, cont., (4) Enlightened Activities. II. Dharma.  III. Sangha.  #2 - Knowing the distinctions (of the three Jewels) based on:  (a) Their Defining Characteristics; (b) Their Activities; (c) Our Devotion; (d) Our Practice.

Handout 10 (rev. 05/03/12) -  Asanga’s Four Aspects of Taking Refuge by, #2 - Knowing the distinctions (of the three Jewels) based on, cont.:  (e) Recollection; (f) How to Increase Merit.  #3 - Through Commitment.  #4 - Refusing to acknowledge other refuges. Introduction to IBD’s texts by Panchen Sonam Drakpa: General Meaning (སྤྱི་དོན།) and debate manual, Decisive Analysis (མཐའ་དཔྱོད།). General Meaning: 5 Topics explain Three Refuge Objects.  #1 -  Three-fold explanation of Necessity for Scriptures' presentation of Three Refuge Objects: (i) Buddha Jewel; (ii) Dharma Jewel.

ALL SPRING 2012 PDF Handouts are HERE.

DOWNLOAD MP3 TRACKS:

Track 1 - Dharmakaya – categorizing Four or Three Bodies/Kayas of Buddha:

Four Bodies / Kayas of Buddha are (all) Dharmakaya (Truth Body - chos-ku - ཆོས་སྐུ་):

• Buddha’s own benefit kayas appear only to Buddhas: 
• Jnanakaya (ye shes chos sku - ཡེ་ཤེས་ཆོས་སྐུ་) - Wisdom Truth Body (Mental Consciousness of Buddha);
• Svabhavikaya (ngo bo nyid sku - ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་སྐུ་) - Nature Truth Body (Cessations & Emptiness of Mental Consciousness of Buddha).

• Buddha’s others’ benefit kayas appear to Sentient Beings:  
• Sambhogakaya (longs spyod rdzogs pa'i sku - ལོངས་སྤྱོད་རྫོགས་པའི་སྐུ་) Complete Enjoyment Body (Emanated Buddha Person seen by Arya sentient beings).
• Nirmanakaya (sprul pa'i sku - སྤྲུལ་པའི་སྐུ་) – Emanation Body (Emanated Buddha Persons emanated for benefit of all sentient beings).

Three Bodies / Kayas of Buddha - Jnanakaya, Sambhogakaya & Nirmanakaya:

   Why “Jnanakaya” rather than “Dharmakaya”?
   Three Bodies of the Buddha are all Dharmakaya.

Several Charts of Buddhas Kayas were prepared by Geshe Wangmo for the Spring 2010 Class:  2010 Chart 4 - Buddha Bodies.

Track 2 - Why is the Dharmakaya, as the over-all category of the Four Kayas, said to be permanent?

• Svabhavikaya, Nature Truth Body is permanent. The other Kayas are impermanent, i.e., “Not all instances of the Dharmakaya are permanent.” 
• Permanent phenomena are static, unchanging, but not necessarily eternal. 
• From Collected Topics course:  an overall conceptual category that has both permanent and impermanent instances is permanent.

• Can something impermanent arise from or depend upon something that is permanent? 
• The Emptiness (lack of inherent existence) of mental consciousness (permanent phenomena) is responsible for Enlightenment of Buddhas.

Track 3 - [HANDOUT 9 & HANDOUT 10] - Way to Take Refuge by Knowing the Distinctions of the Three Jewels based on:

• Their defining characteristics (e.g., the Buddha Jewel has actualized the fullest potential of the mental consciousness by removing everything that obscures it: Buddhism is about removing obstacles); . . .
• Danger of violating Refuge precepts by abandoning the Dharma when we abandon or makecertain kinds of criticisms  of other Sangha traditions....

Track 4 - Importance of Increasing Merit:

• Motivation, positive actions (e.g., Rejoicing in others accomplishments and well-being), objects of activities.
• Two aspects to accumulating merit:  merit one receives due to (1) one’s motivation and action, and (2) benefiting the recipient. . . .

• Way to Take Refuge by Refusing to Acknowledge other Refuges means not taking refuge in a teacher or a teaching that contradicts the Three Jewels respecting the Ten Non-Virtues (e.g., practicing animal sacrifice); or for the purpose of attaining Self-Liberation or Enlightenment (if other traditions do not teach those goals, their teachings will not lead to those results).

Texts used for remainder of Spring 2012:

• Handouts are translations of the (Refuge sections) from the two texts by Panchen Sonam Drakpa used (for this course) at IBD and Drepung Loseling Monastery:  
• The General Meaning (Tibetan:  སྤྱི་དོན། - chi toen); and 
• Decisive Analysis (Tibetan:  མཐའ་དཔྱོད། - tha-choe) which presents objects of negation for debate).

NOTES of Class 8 (April 25) rough draft transcript of class offered for what it's worth.

If any of the LINKS don't work, please leave a COMMENT or notify us by E-Mail.

This is the 8th class of the Spring 2012 term Perfection of Wisdom course
which addresses Refuge, the 3rd sub-topic of the 2nd Topic
(Mahayana Practice Instructions) of Chapter 1 of Maitreya's
Ornament for Clear Realizations - Abhisamayalamkara.

Class 7 - Good Qualities of Three Jewels

Download PDF's of Class Handouts, Notes, and MP3 Tracks from the 7th class of Spring 2012 term held on Monday, April 23:

DOWNLOAD Handouts - text for Class 7:

2012 Handout 8 – Presentation of GOOD QUALITIES of: BUDDHA’s BODY (including – Jnana-kaya / Wisdom Truth Body; Sambhoga-kaya / Enjoyment Body; Three-Fold Nirmana-kaya / Emanation Body (Artisan Nirmanakayas [བཟོ་བོ་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་]; Incarnated Nirmanakayas [སྐྱེ་བ་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་] and Supreme Nirmanakayas [བཟོ་བོ་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་]; BUDDHA’s SPEECH; and BUDDHA’s MIND (explained by way of two aspects: Knowledge & Compassion).

2012 Handout 9 – GOOD QUALITIES of: BUDDHA’s ENLIGHTENED ACTIVITIES, the DHARMA and the SANGHA. How to take Refuge by Knowing the 6 categories for differentiating the Three Jewels: (1) Their Defining Characteristics; (2) Their Activities; (3) Our Devotion; (4) Our Practice. (cont. on Handout 10).

ALL SPRING 2012 PDF Handouts are HERE.

DOWNLOAD MP3 TRACKS:

Track 1 - Brief Review of Refuge Topics covered in Classes 4-6, including:

• Reasons the Buddha Jewel is a Worthy Object of Causal Refuge [Handout 7]
• Way to Take Refuge by knowing the Good Qualities of Buddha’s Kayas.
• Difficulty Comprehending Emanations of Multiple Bodies:  We only have ‘one body’ per life cycle because of limitations imposed by our self-grasping/cherishing ignorance.

Track 2 - [Handout 8] Good qualities of the Buddha’s Mind.

• Mental qualities of a Buddha often summarized as Three:  Wisdom, Loving Compassion, Power/Ability - khyen-tse ngo sum (མཁྱེན་བརྩེ་ནུས་གསུམ་). 
• All Buddhist practices focus on developing/transforming Mental Consciousness because we are determined by our mental consciousness.
• [Handout 9]  Good qualities of the Buddhas’ Enlightened Activities.

Track 3 - Good qualities of the Dharma - Dharma of Scripture and Dharma of Realization.

The Buddha Jewel strictly is the persons of Buddhas and all of their qualities. The Dharma Jewel is strictly meaning the Arya Paths and Cessations but more broadly the Teachings from those realizations.  Is there a broader interpretation of the Buddha Jewel?

Track 4 - Good Qualities of the Sangha.
              Questions & Answer:  Distinctions in Meaning & Terminolgy of Arya Bodhisattva’s Emanations (trul-wa - སྤྲུལ་བ་) & Buddha’s Emanation Bodies (tul-ku - སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་).

NOTES of Class 7 (April 23) rough draft transcript of class offered for what it's worth.

If any of the LINKS don't work, please leave a COMMENT or notify us by E-Mail.

This is the 7th class of the Spring 2012 term Perfection of Wisdom course
which addresses Refuge, the 3rd sub-topic of the 2nd Topic
(Mahayana Practice Instructions) of Chapter 1 of Maitreya's
Ornament for Clear Realizations - Abhisamayalamkara.

Class 6 - Three Kayas of a Buddha

Download PDF's of Class Handouts, Notes, and MP3 Tracks from the 6th class of Spring 2012 term held on Friday, April 20:

DOWNLOAD Handouts - text for Class 6:

2012 Handout 8 – Presentation of GOOD QUALITIES of: BUDDHA’s BODY (including – Jnana-kaya / Wisdom Truth Body; Sambhoga-kaya / Enjoyment Body; Three-Fold Nirmana-kaya / Emanation Body (Artisan Nirmanakayas [བཟོ་བོ་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་]; Incarnated Nirmanakayas [སྐྱེ་བ་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་] and Supreme Nirmanakayas [བཟོ་བོ་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་]; BUDDHA’s SPEECH; and BUDDHA’s MIND (explained by way of two aspects: Knowledge & Compassion).

ALL SPRING 2012 PDF Handouts are HERE.

DOWNLOAD MP3 TRACKS:

Track 1 - Review Class 5 topics: Fear and Faith. How do you define Buddhist. Does a Buddha have Fearlessness? Definitions of ‘Buddhist.’

Track 2 - [Handout 8] - Great Qualities of Buddha’s Three Bodies/Kayas (སྐུ་):

1. Jnanakaya refers to the immaculate mental consciousness of the Buddha that directly realizes all phenomena, i.e., the Omniscient Mind 
2. Sambhogakaya.  
3. Three categories of Nirmanakaya (Artist, Incarnated and Supreme Emanation).

Track 3 - Great Qualities of the Buddha’s Speech

Track 4 - Questions & Answers Regarding Buddha Kayas & Emanations.

If any of the LINKS don't work, please leave a COMMENT or notify us by E-Mail.

This is the 6th class of the Spring 2012 term Perfection of Wisdom course
which addresses Refuge, the 3rd sub-topic of the 2nd Topic
(Mahayana Practice Instructions) of Chapter 1 of Maitreya's
Ornament for Clear Realizations - Abhisamayalamkara.

Class 5 - Causal & Resultant Refuge, Kayas, etc.

Download PDF's of Class Handouts, Notes, and MP3 Tracks from the 5th class of Spring 2012 term held on Wednesday, April 18:

DOWNLOAD Handouts - text for Class 5:

2012 Handout 7 – (cont.) Persons of Small Spiritual Scope. Persons of Intermediate & Persons of Great Spiritual Scope. REASONS WHY THE BUDDHA IS WORTHY TO BE A REFUGE: The Buddhas (4 Reasons stated by Asanga). WAYS TO TAKE REFUGE - Four Aspects of Taking Refuge (stated by Asanga): by knowing the good qualities of the three Jewels): List of Four good qualities of the Buddha.

2012 Handout 8 – Presentation of GOOD QUALITIES of: BUDDHA’s BODY (including – Jnana-kaya / Wisdom Truth Body; Sambhoga-kaya / Enjoyment Body; Three-Fold Nirmana-kaya / Emanation Body (Artisan Nirmanakayas [བཟོ་བོ་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་]; Incarnated Nirmanakayas [སྐྱེ་བ་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་] and Supreme Nirmanakayas [བཟོ་བོ་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་]; BUDDHA’s SPEECH; and BUDDHA’s MIND (explained by way of two aspects: Knowledge & Compassion).

ALL SPRING 2012 PDF Handouts are HERE.

DOWNLOAD MP3 TRACKS:

Track 1 - Taking Refuge in the Causal & Resultant Buddha, Dharma & Sangha
               Fear & Faith – the Two Causes for Taking Refuge
               Do Practitioners of lower spiritual scope (who seek an end to Lower Rebirth) 
                        Take Refuge in the Resultant Dharma Jewels?

Track 2 - Buddha’s Have No Fear, so are they Buddhists?
              Do Arhats Take Refuge?
              What makes you not a Buddhist?

Track 3 - Handout 7, cont., (source: Je Tsong Khapa’s Lam Rim Chenmo):
              Practitioners of the Intermediate & Great Spiritual Scopes:

• Fear of Great Scope Practitioners that prompts Refuge:  “the suffering of all sentient beings”.
• Don’t Buddhas fear the suffering of all sentient beings?
• Four Good Qualities of the Buddha (per Arya Asanga): 
• The Buddha has attained the sublime state of fearlessness; 
• is an expert in training disciples; 
• has great compassion;
• is not pleased with material offerings.

Track 4 - How to Take Refuge (per Arya Asanga):

• By knowing the Outstanding qualities of the Buddha’s Body, Speech, Mind & Enlightened Activites:
• [Handout 8] Qualities of Buddha’s Kayas:  Mental bodies, Emanation bodies

Track 5 - Discussion / Q & A re: Emanations & Manifestations of Buddhas & Bodhisattvas: 

• Are Sentient Beings’ Bodies Manifestations of Mental Consciousness?  
• How can we understand Emanations? and more.

NOTES of Class 5 (April 18) rough draft transcript of class offered for what it's worth.

If any of the LINKS don't work, please leave a COMMENT or notify us by E-Mail.

This is the 5th class of the Spring 2012 term Perfection of Wisdom course
which addresses Refuge, the 3rd sub-topic of the 2nd Topic
(Mahayana Practice Instructions) of Chapter 1 of Maitreya's
Ornament for Clear Realizations - Abhisamayalamkara.

Class 4 - Introduction - Refuge Objects & Method

Download PDF's of Class Handouts, Notes, and MP3 Tracks from the 4th class of Spring 2012 term held on Monday, April 16:

DOWNLOAD Handouts - text for Class 4:

2012 Handout 6 -  complete Review of first two (of 10) Sub-Topics of the 2nd Topic of Chapter 1 (the Mahayana Practice Instructions):  the Two Truths & Four Noble Truths.  Introduction to Spring 2012 topic, 3rd Sub-Topic of Practice Instructions:  THREE OBJECTS of REFUGE.  Causal & Resultant Three Jewels.  Causes for Taking Refuge.  Three Types of Persons / Goals.

2012 Handout 7 – (cont.) Persons of Small Spiritual Scope. Persons of Intermediate & Persons of Great Spiritual Scope. REASONS WHY THE BUDDHA IS WORTHY TO BE A REFUGE: The Buddhas (4 Reasons stated by Asanga). WAYS TO TAKE REFUGE - Four Aspects of Taking Refuge (stated by Asanga): by knowing the good qualities of the three Jewels): List of Four good qualities of the Buddha.

ALL SPRING 2012 PDF Handouts are HERE.

DOWNLOAD MP3 TRACKS:

Track 1: Studies and the Joy of Faith

• Inseparability of Buddha’s Body, Speech and Mind:
• Meaning of Inseparable:
• Phenomena that are not one — that are different — but that are of one nature (ངོ་བོ་དབྱེར་མེད་).
• Inherently Existent Phenomena must be either completely One or Separate
• Merely Imputed Phenomena may be of One Nature (neither totally separate nor totally identical) 

• What distinguishes phenomena as Separate, of One Nature, or Identical? 
• Phenomena can be Identical (one) or Equivalent but not Identical.
• Body, Speech and Mind of a Buddha are not Identical but are of One Nature.

Track 2 - Review strict and general meanings of the Three Jewels as Objects of Refuge:
                         Buddha Jewel, Dharma Jewel & Sangha Jewel

Track 3 - Causal Three Jewels & Resultant Three Jewels:

• Resultant Three Jewels
• Causes For Taking Refuge
• Three Types of Persons with Three different Goals take Refuge:
• First Scope Practitioners aim: Highest Worldly Goal - All Future Lives in Higher Realms. [Handout 7]
• Three Causal Refuges & Three Resultant Refuges of First Scope Practitioners
• Debates:  Do First Scope Practitioners’ Have Resultant Refuges?
• Forced Rebirth (from power of karma & delusions) in Lower Realms is an Object of Abandonment on the Path of Seeing

Track 4:  Questions & Answers

Distinguishing ordinary Fear and the Fear of Fear & Faith (Two causes for taking Refuge).
Clarification re Truths of Path & Truths of Cessation as Dharma Jewels.

NOTES of Class 4 (April 16) - rough draft transcript of class offered for what it's worth.

If any of the LINKS don't work, please leave a COMMENT or notify us by E-Mail.

This is the 4th class of the Spring 2012 term Perfection of Wisdom course
which addresses Refuge, the 3rd sub-topic of the 2nd Topic
(Mahayana Practice Instructions) of Chapter 1 of Maitreya's
Ornament for Clear Realizations - Abhisamayalamkara.

Class 3 - Introduction - Refuge Objects & Method

Download PDF's of Class Handouts, Notes, and MP3 Tracks from the 3rd class of Spring 2012 term held on Friday, April 13:

DOWNLOAD Handouts - text for Class 3:

2012 Handout 5 - Review of 1st Topic of Chapter 1 - Bodhicitta.  2nd Topic of Chapter 1 - Mahayana Practice Instructions & its Ten Sub-Topics.

2012 Handout 6 -  complete Review of first two (of 10) Sub-Topics of the 2nd Topic of Chapter 1 (the Mahayana Practice Instructions):  the Two Truths & Four Noble Truths.  Introduction to Spring 2012 topic, 3rd Sub-Topic of Practice Instructions:  THREE OBJECTS of REFUGE.  Causal & Resultant Three Jewels.  Causes for Taking Refuge.  Three Types of Persons / Goals.

ALL SPRING 2012 PDF Handouts are HERE.

DOWNLOAD MP3 TRACKS:

Track 1 - Handouts 5 & 6: conclude Review of Perfection of Wisdom Course through 2011:
Brief Review of Chapter 1:
         Topic 1 (of 10) Bodhicitta.
         Topic 2:  Ten (Mahayana) Practice Instructions: "Bodhisattvas on the path of accumulation should now listen, contemplate and meditate on the Mahayana practice instructions. This will enhance their practice and their progress on the path to enlightenment."
                       1 Two Truths (covered in Spring 2011)
                       2. Four Noble Truths (in Fall 2011)
                       3. Refuge - current term

Track 2 – Introduction to Three Objects of Refuge:
      Faith & Reason
      What does it mean to Take Refuge?
      Distinction:  Being a Buddhist & Being a Buddhist Philosopher.
      Essence of the Buddhist theory:  the Four Seals:
             "All contaminated phenomena are in the nature of suffering.
              All conditioned, compounded phenomena are impermanent.
              All phenomena are Empty and Selfless.
              Nirvana is peace."
      Definition of a Buddhist:  “a person who takes Refuge in the Three Jewels”
      Objects of Refuge:  the Three Jewels - Jewels is translation of Sanskrit, Ratna
                     In Tibetan - Three Sublime Rarities - Kun Chok Sum (ཀུན་ཆོག་གསུམ་).
If we really understood, actually internalized the Four Noble Truths, in particular the First Noble Truth of Suffering, would we naturally take refuge in the Three Jewels?

      Buddha Jewel – Four Kayas (Kaya means any of the amazing qualities of a Buddha that are categorized into four kayas)

Track 3 – Dharma Jewel

     Maitreya’s text, the Uttaratantra (Sublime Continuum), extensively explains meaning in the strictest sense of the Three Jewels.  The Dharma Jewel refers to:

       "Arya paths (Truths of the Path) and cessations (Truths of Cessation) in the continua

        of beings (who have attained any of the three Arya paths (the Paths of Seeing, 

        Meditation or No More Learning)."

      Two Paths of Hinayana and Mahayana practitioners.
      Refuge in the Dharma of Arya Paths and Arya Cessations.

      In a wider sense, one may take Refuge in the teachings, but that is not the complete object of refuge.

Track 4 –Sangha Jewel

In the strict sense, the Sangha Jewel refers to persons who are Aryas (including Buddhas).  In wider senses to four fully ordained monks or nuns, ordained practitioners, the entire community of ordained and lay practitioners.

Track 5 – Question & Answer

Is the Buddha all Three Refuge Jewels?  And other interesting Q&A.

NOTES of Class 3 (April 13) - rough draft transcript of class offered for what it's worth.

If any of the LINKS don't work, please leave a COMMENT or notify us by E-Mail.

This is the 3rd class of the Spring 2012 term Perfection of Wisdom course
which addresses Refuge, the 3rd sub-topic of the 2nd Topic
(Mahayana Practice Instructions) of Chapter 1 of Maitreya's
Ornament for Clear Realizations - Abhisamayalamkara.

Class 2 - Introduction to 2012 Spring Term

Download PDF's of Class Handouts, Notes, and MP3 Tracks from the 2nd class of Spring 2012 term held on Wednesday, April 11:

DOWNLOAD Handouts - text for Class 2:

2012 Handout 3 - cont., Aspirational Prayers of Solitary Realizers.  Meaning of Maitreya's statement of Purpose for composing the Ornament (verses 2-3).  Summary of the Ornament - two verses listing the Eight Clear Realizations (verses 4-5).  13 Verses list the 70 Topics of the Ornamentt (verses 6-9 are in Handout 3).

2012 Handout 4 - cont., 70 Topics of the Ornament (verses 10-18). Chapter 1 of the Ornament, Introduction, Ten Topics of the Knower of All Aspects of the Conqueror set out in Chapter 1.

2012 Handout 5 - Review of 1st Topic of Chapter 1 - Bodhicitta.  2nd Topic of Chapter 1 - Mahayana Practice Instructions & its Ten Sub-Topics.

ALL SPRING 2012 PDF Handouts are HERE.

DOWNLOAD MP3 TRACKS:

Track 1 - Handout 3: continue Review of Perfection of Wisdom Course through 2011, i.e.,

              Review Maitreya's Ornament for Clear Realizations:

                   Preface:

                         Verse 1 –    Expression of Homage to the Three Knowers

                         Verse 2-3 – Statement of Purpose of Composition.

What is the Exalted Knower of All Aspects?

                        Verses 4-18 - Summary of the Ornament (Table of Contents)  -

What is a Clear Realization?

Track 2 - Handout 3:  Summary of the Ornament, cont.
              Verses 4-5 - Eight Clear Realizations - explained in 8 chapters by way of
                                           Seventy Topics - Verses 6-18.

Track 3 - Handout 4: First Chapter of the Ornament:

              Ten (10) Topics of Chapter 1 characterize the Omniscient Mind of a Buddha (First Clear Realization called an Exalted Knower of All Aspects).

Those 10 Topics are:

1. Bodhicitta
2. Mahayana Practice Instructions
3. Path of Preparation
4. Buddha Nature
5. Objects of Focus
6. Three Great Goals
7. Armor-Like Practice
8. Engaged Practice
9. Practice of Accumulation
10. Practice of Definite Emergence 

Track 4 - Handout 5:  Chapter One of the Ornament 

    Topic 1 – BODHICITTA – Studied in Fall 2010 & Spring 2011 terms.

    Topic 2 – Mahayana PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS:  General Introduction

              TEN (10) Mahayana PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS (sub-topics of the Second Topic of Ch. 1):

          1.  Two Truths (Conventional Truth & Ultimate Truth) – studied in Spring 2011 term
          2.  Four Noble Truths – studied in Fall 2011 term
          3.  Three Objects of Refuge – subject of this Spring 2012 term.

We may reach some of the remaining Practice Instructions during Spring 2012 term:

       Three kinds of Diligence, i.e., Enthusiastic Effort/Perseverance of
          4.  Non-involvement
          5.  Tirelessness
          6.  Thoroughly applying oneself to the path of practice.

          7.  Five visions
          8.  Six Clairvoyances
          9.  Path of Seeing
        10.  Path of Meditation

NOTES of Class 2 (April 11) - rough draft transcript of class offered for what it's worth.

If any of the LINKS don't work, please leave a COMMENT or notify us by E-Mail.

This is the 2nd class of the Spring 2012 term Perfection of Wisdom course
which addresses Refuge, the 3rd sub-topic of the 2nd Topic
(Mahayana Practice Instructions) of Chapter 1 of Maitreya's
Ornament for Clear Realizations - Abhisamayalamkara.

Class 1 - Introduction to 2012 Spring Term

Download PDF's of Class materials and MP3 Tracks from the 1st class of Spring 2012 term held on Monday, April 9:

DOWNLOAD Handouts - text for Class 1:

2012 Handout 1 - Introduction to the Three Objects of Refuge:  Review basic contextual information on Perfection of Wisdom Sutras (e.g., Three Wheels of Dharma) & Ornament for Clear Realizations.

2012 Handout 2 - cont., Introduction to the Three Objects of Refuge:  Review basic contextual information re: Ornament:  Ornament's Homages (a) by Tibetan translators of the Sanskrit text; (b) (verse 1) Maitreya's Homage to the Mother of the Three Knowers (of the) Three Types of Wisdoms:  1) Knower of Bases - Arya Hearers & Solitary Realizations.  2) Knower of Paths - Arya Bodhisattvas.  3)  Exalted Knowers of All Aspects, i.e., Omniscient Mind of Buddhas.

2012 Handout 3 - cont., Aspirational Prayers of Solitary Realizers.  Meaning of Maitreya's statement of Purpose for composing the Ornament (verses 2-3).  Summary of the Ornament - two verses listing the Eight Clear Realizations (verses 4-5).  13 Verses list the 70 Topics of the Ornamentt (verses 6-9 are in Handout 3).

PDF Handouts from Prior Years of Course that Relate to this Class:

Spring 2010 HANDOUT 1 - PERFECTION OF WISDOM – 2010 - INTRODUCTION.

Complete List of 21 Indian Commentaries on the Ornament translated into Tibetan.

Ornament for Clear Realizations - Preface & Chapter 1.

ALL SPRING 2012 PDF Handouts are HERE.

DOWNLOAD MP3 TRACKS:

Track 1 - Handout 1 -  What are we studying? - Introductory Review of Perfection of Wisdom Course.

Three Wheels of Dharma:

Teaching the First Wheel, Buddha spent more time on the First and Second Noble Truths (Suffering and Origin). During the Second Wheel, Buddha taught the Truth of Cessation; and during the Third Wheel the Truth of the Path.  It is too simplistic to say, e.g., during the Second Wheel he taught the Perfection of Wisdom; that was the main genre.  The main genre of the First Wheel is the Four Noble Truths.  

Another way of conceptualizing the Second and Third Turnings of the Wheel:

        During the Second Wheel, Buddha taught Buddha Nature from point of view of Emptiness (lack of inherent existence of the mind).

       During the Third Wheel, Buddha taught Buddha Nature in terms of the mental consciousness, itself, being Buddha Nature.

Second Wheel - Perfection of Wisdom Sutras = Sutras of the Venerable Mother

     The good news is that the Second Wheel actually contains everything.  For instance, last year, we studied the Perfection of Wisdom by way of one of its topics, the Four Noble Truths.  The Perfection of Wisdom Sutras explicitly teach Emptiness and implicitly teach the entire path . . .
     Thus when we study the Second Wheel, we get the entire package.  That is why there is so much time and emphasis is given in this tradition to studying the Perfection of Wisdom.  First we study the implicit meaning (in this course) and then the explicit meaning.  We spend about six or seven years of study (at IBD, etc.) on the implicit meaning of the Perfection of Wisdom and three years on the explicit meaning of the Perfection of Wisdom.

Perfection of Wisdom Sutras translated into Tibetan are known as the Seventeen Mother and Son Sutras -  ཡུམ་སྲས་བཅུ་བདུན་གྱི་མདོ།

Maitreya's Ornament for Clear Realizations (Abhisamayalamkara)

The Ornament for Clear Realizations is a key that opens up the hidden/implicit meaning of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras.  

The hidden meaning of the Perfection of Wisdom Wheel is studied in this course in reliance on Maitreya's Ornament which pithily sets out the varieties of topics on its implicit meaning - the Path to Enlightenment.  The explicit meaning of this Wheel (Wisdom of Middle Way / Madhyamika) is the subject of the next course (Uma) taught in reliance on Nagarjuna's Fundamental Wisdom & Chandrakirti's Commentary on it.

• Principal Sutra Sources of the Ornament - ངོན་རྟོགས་རྒྱན་གྱི་བཤད་བྱ་རྩ་བའི་མདོ།
• Meaning of the Title in Sanskrit: 
• Abhisamaya-alamkara-nama-prajnaparamita-upadesha-shastra-karika
• Meaning of the Title in Tibetan:
• ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་དུ་ཕྱིན་པའི་མན་ངག་གི་བསྟན་བཅོས་མངོན་པར་རྟོགས་པའི་རྒྱན་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱས་པ།

Track 2 - Handout 2 - cont.

Meaning of the Title in English:  The Verses and Chapters of the So-Called 'Ornament for Clear Realization', a quintessential instruction treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom.

HOMAGE (མཆོད་བརྗོད།) by Maitreya:

 I prostrate to the Mother of Buddhas and of the groups of Hearers and Bodhisattvas 

Who through the knower of bases leads Hearers seeking pacification to complete peace; 

Who through the knower of paths causes those helping migrators to achieve the aims of the world; And who through possession of which (exalted knower of aspects) the Subduers set forth the varieties having all aspects.   [verse 1]  

Knower of Bases refers to the paths (i.e., special mental consciousnesses cultivated by  Arya Hinayana trainees (Hearers and Solitary Realizers) to attain goal of the complete peace of self-liberation (liberation from samsara/cyclic existence) order to overcome afflictive obstructions - the obstructions to self-liberation.

Knower of Paths refers to the paths of Arya Bodhisattvas. Their main goal is the full enlightenment of a Buddha which causes them to help sentient beings to achieve Buddhahood. Therefore, Bodhisattvas cultivate the Knower of Paths in order to overcome cognitive obstructions - the obstructions to omniscience.

Exalted Knower of All Aspects refers to the omniscient minds of Buddhas, the possession of which enables Buddhas to give the varieties of different teachings according to disciples' interest and predispositions.

Ordinary Paths & Arya Paths

ORDINARY PATHS (Paths in the continua of practitioners who have not directly realized the emptiness of inherent existence yet):   Path of Accumulation & Path of Preparation
ARYA PATHS (Paths in the continua of those who have directly realized the emptiness of inherent existence):  Path of Seeing, Path of Meditation & Path of No More Learning.

Distinctions between Hearers (Shravaka, ཉན་ཐོས།) & 
Handout 3 - cont. Solitary Realizers (Pratyekabuddha, རང་སངས་རྒྱ།).

Once Solitary Realizers and Hearers realize Emptiness directly, their Path is called the Knower of Basis so their vehicle is known as the Fundamental Vehicle.

Track 3 - Questions and Answers.

In response to a question about the presentation in this course compared to the Tibetan geshe curricula studies in IBD and other monastic universities, Geshe-la indicates that she is not truncating the material nor does she wish to "present a 21st century version of this course.  Rather, I teach it the way I was taught; the way the Tibetans have been teaching this course for centuries."

NOTES of Class 1 (April 9) - rough draft transcript of class offered for what it's worth.

If any of the LINKS don't work, please leave a COMMENT or notify us by E-Mail.

This is the 1st class of the Spring 2012 term Perfection of Wisdom course
which addresses Refuge, the 3rd sub-topic of the 2nd Topic
(Mahayana Practice Instructions) of Chapter 1 of Maitreya's
Ornament for Clear Realizations - Abhisamayalamkara.

Spring Semester begins 9 APRIL 2012

The IBD's [Institute for Buddhist Dialectical studies] Advanced (English language) Philosophy course taught by Geshe Kelsang Wangmo resumes Monday - 9 APRIL 2012.

The subject matter continues the Perfection of Wisdom studies based upon Maitreya's Ornament for Clear Realizations [Abhisamayalamkara] with the next topic of Chapter 1:  REFUGE.

Weekly Class Schedule:

MONDAY, WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY
4:00 - 5:30 pm
in IBD's Prayer Hall

IBD's prayer hall is located
Up the first set of Stairs (to the Right)
inside the main Temple Gate.

Monthly Donation Fee Requested - 300 INR

The Discussion Group schedule will be
announced after classes begin. 

First Topic:  REFUGE.  Many complex issues and debates relating to Refuge will be covered this Spring.   As time allows, Geshe Wangmo will begin presenting subsequent topics from Chapter 1 of the Ornament.  (See * below) 

First Classes:  Geshe Wangmo will review how we arrived at an examination of Refuge in our study of the hidden subject matter (i.e., structure of the Path to enlightenment) of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras as outlined in Maitreya's Ornament and elaborated by Indian & Tibetan commentators.

Text:  Geshe Wangmo prepares handouts for the topics raised in each class (which include translated excerpts from commentaries that are not available in English).

Bit of Caution:  This course is an English language presentation of Geshe studies curricula taught in monasteries (e.g., IBD, Drepung Loseling).  This course is challenging and presumes a familiarity with prerequisite course studies (the Collected Topics, Mind & Awareness, Tenets), and the three years of this course material that have occurred to date. 

You are welcome to attend a few sessions to assess whether the the course is suitable for you; however, please do not interrupt the flow of the classroom presentation with too many questions about background material.  One function of the course's Discussion Group is to answer such questions (as well as to review new material presented in class).

Chapter 1 of the Ornament outlines Ten Dharmas a/k/a Ten Topics that elucidate the Omniscient Mind.  To date, the course has covered:

    First Dharma/Topic - Bodhicitta

The Second Dharma/Topic – Mahayana Practice Instructions has Ten Sub-Topics:
 

The course has covered the first 2 Sub-Topics:

   (1)     Entity of Practice:
                   Conventional Truth & Ultimate Truth

                   Bodhicitta

   (2)     Four Noble Truths.

Spring Semester 2012 will cover the Third Mahayana Practice Instruction topic:

   (3)    Refuge.

*Depending on circumstances, the Fourth through Sixth Mahayana Practice Instruction sub-topics may be covered as well:

   (4) - (6)  Three Types of Diligence.

  
The Spring 2012 semester will conclude when heavy monsoon rains drive away most students (probably in July).