Class 6 - Path of Accumulation's Three Levels

Download PDF's of Class Handouts and MP3 Tracks from the 6th class of Spring 2013 term held on the 22nd day of April.

Geshe Kelsang Wangmo presents the three levels of the Mahayana Path of Accumulation.

DOWNLOAD Handouts - text for Class 6

 
2013 Spring Handout 8 - Mahayana Path of Accumulation, cont.:  Causal Awareness required to generate Bodhicitta:  2) Equanimity – necessary prerequisite to generate Bodhicitta with Seven-fold Cause & Effect instructions and Equalizing & Exchanging Self for Others - techniques that can generate other requisite minds, e.g.:  3) Affectionate Love; 4) Great Compassion; 5) Altruistic Attitude; 6) Aspiration to Benefit Others.  Bodhicitta on the Path of Accumulation: dormant & manifold, in continua of Bodhisattvas and Buddhas (on the Fifth Mahayana Path); Aspiration and Engaging Bodhicitta.  Three levels of Mahayana Path of Accumulation:  1) Small, 2) Middling.

2013 Spring Handout 9 - Mahayana Path of Accumulation, cont.:  Middling & Great levels.  Chart - three levels of Path of Accumulation.  Mahayana Path of Preparation:  Four levels, each with three subdivisions (Small, Middling, Great) introduction.

ALL SPRING 2013 PDF Handouts are HERE.

DOWNLOAD MP3 TRACKS:

Track 1 - MAHAYANA PATH OF ACCUMULATION:

Aspirational & Engaging Bodhicitta:

• the Bodhisattva Vow  
• Mādhyamika Prāsaṅgika (Consequentialists) & Mādhyamika Svātantrika (Autonomists) Assertions re: Aspirational & Engaging Bodhicitta differ due to their different assertions re: the Nature of Vows.  
• Consequentialists: Vows are a subtle form present in Bodhisattvas’ continua.  Having taken and maintained the Bodhisattva Vow, Aspiring Bodhicitta is not present. 
•  Autonomits, et al.: Vows are a Mind that thinks, “I will keep the vow”. When that mind is not manifest, the Bodhisattva has Aspiring Bodhicitta.

Track 2 - Three Levels of the Mahayana Path of Accumulation - HANDOUT 8.

• Small Mahayana Path of Accumulation:
• Training in Wisdom on Small Path 
• Differentiate Bodhisattvas of Sharp & Dull (relatively) Faculties 
• Inferential Cognition - Necessary to Incontrovertibly Know Slightly Hidden Phenomena 
• Training in Method (strengthen Bodhicitta & its Causal Minds & the Perfections)

Small Path of Accumulation
Summary of Qualities/Attainments

•  Bodhicitta can still deteriorate. 
•  Unless emptiness has been realized before, practitioners need to train in the different types of reasoning that establish the lack of true existence. 
• Practitioners meditate on Bodhicitta, compassion, the six perfections, etc.

** Note: In Class 8, Geshe Wangmo made a correction to page 1 of HANDOUT 8, in the second sentence of a paragraph near the bottom of the page.  The mistaken sentence (with the error highlighted in bold) read:

Furthermore, even though Bodhicitta is the criterion that determines whether Bodhisattvas are on the Mahayana path, this does not mean that Bodhicitta must always be present in their continua.

The correction should read:

Furthermore, even though Bodhicitta is the criterion that determines whether practitioners are on the Mahayana path, this does not mean that Bodhicitta must always be present in their continua.

Track 3 - Middling Path of Accumulation - HANDOUTS 8 & 9.

• Generating the Inferential (Conceptual) Cognition Realizing Emptiness 
• Achieving the Meditative Stability of the Union of Calm Abiding & Special Insight 

Middling Path of Accumulation
Summary of Qualities/Attainments

• Bodhicitta cannot deteriorate anymore.

• Unless taken before, practitioners need to take the Bodhisattva vow.

• Unless realized previously, practitioners need to realize emptiness with an inferential cognizer.

• Unless attained before, practitioners need to attain the meditative stabilization that is a union of calm abiding and special insight.

• Practitioners meditate on Bodhicitta, compassion, the six perfections, etc.

Track 4 - Great Path of Accumulation. - HANDOUTt 9

• Attain the Mental Stability of Continuous Dharma (ཆོས་རྒྱུན་གྱི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་) which has the power to hear the Buddhas’ teachings remotely. 
• Train to Realize Emptiness Conceptually in the Meditative Union of Calm Abiding & Special Insight.
• How Many Possibilities between Realizing Emptiness Conceptually & Inferentially? 

When you realize Emptiness with an inferential cognizer, you do so conceptually. However, when you realize Emptiness conceptually you don’t necessarily realize it with an inferential cognizer.

Realizing with an inferential cognizer refers to a new realization of Emptiness based on reasoning. But when you strengthen the understanding of Emptiness, you don’t rely so much on the reasoning. And when you have a spontaneous conceptual realization of Emptiness, you are not relying on inferential cognition. When you in the union of calm abiding and special insight, you conceptually realize Emptiness, you do not do so based on inferential cognition. A mental image, not the actual object, appears to the conceptual consciousness.

If we close our eyes and use conceptual consciousness, we have a mental image of an object that we perceived directly with a sense consciousness. It is the opposite when we work to realize Emptiness directly. First, we realize Emptiness conceptually with an inferential cognizer, and then after habituation, we realize Emptiness conceptually without going through inferential reasoning.

Great Path of Accumulation

Summary of Qualities/Attainments

• Practitioners attain the Mental Stability of Continuous Dharma

• Practitioners need to train in the development of the union of calm abiding and special insight conceptually realizing emptiness.

• Practitioners meditate on Bodhicitta, compassion, the six perfections, etc.

NOTES - Class 6 (April 22) rough draft transcript of class offered for what it's worth.  

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This is the 6th class of the Spring 2013 term the Perfection of Wisdom course
which addresses 8th-10th sub-topics of the 2nd Topic
(Mahayana Practice Instructions) of Chapter 1 of Maitreya's
Ornament for Clear Realizations - Abhisamayalamkara.