“What it says in this [Drogmi Lotsawa] tradition is that the primary reason for writing the Fifty Verses is that “the root of all siddhis, all of the common and ordinary siddhis is the guru”. Whether you achieve the siddhis or not depends primarily on the guru. So the author wrote it so that we will be able to give up the wrong ways of relying on the guru such as disdaining or criticizing them and to go through the ways that please the guru, and the proper ways of relying on a guru.
“In general, we have to follow a qualified Guru. We can’t just say any guru is a spiritual friend or Master, you need to find one who has all the qualifications, who is authentic and who’s a qualified Guru. We need to examine whether the guru has all the qualities they need in order to teach the tantras and the practices. That has both the name and the qualities. We need to examine the guru order to see that. Likewise, the guru cannot give all the people, whoever they are teachings. In particular, teachings on the secret mantra Vajrayana shouldn’t be given to anyone who says “oh I need this teaching, I need this empowerment, I need this practice.” Actually, the guru has to examine first if they going to be receptive and are an appropriate vessel for the Secret Mantra.”
–17th Karmapa (Fifty Verses on the Guru, Day 2)
Introduction
On the second day of the new teaching by HH 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje on the Fifty Verses on the Guru, the 17th Karmapa first reminded everyone that the main purpose of these teachings was for the nuns at the annual Arya Kshema event in Bodh Gaya, India. The Karmapa then gave a detailed explanation of the two main extant Sanskrit editions of the Fifty Verses text, discovered and published by two European scholars, Sylvain Levi in 1929, and the other by Hungarian scholar, Peter-Daniel Szanto in 2015.
The 17th Karmapa then explained how the text was traditionally taught in the Karma Kagyu shedras from the time of the 7th to the first part of the 10th Karmapa’s life, using a text by the 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje called ‘Infinite Ocean of Samaya’. The most important thing to establish first was for the guru and the student to examine each other well. [For more on the essential qualities of a Vajrayana guru, see Je Tāranātha’s advice in his Kālacakra masterpiece, Hundred Blazing Lights].
After doing that, then the guru would give them the refuge and bodhicitta vows, and ask them if they wanted any more vows. Then they should teach the Fifty Verses and the student should listen and contemplate them. The Karmapa then briefly explained another important text that was taught at that time, called the Ocean of Samayas by 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje. He said that these days, ever since the time of the 10th Karmapa, no-one these days has even heard about this text. So to re-dress that, the 17th Karmapa said he would try and teach it in more detail in the future.
The 17th Karmapa then went on to explain five key points used by Jetsun Dragpa Gyeltsen in commentary on the Verses to explain the text, going into detail about its sources in the Tantras, reasons why it was composed (including an interesting anecdote about an Indian master called ‘Glorious Pig-Sty’ one) and the Introduction to the actual text itself, beginning with the meaning of the title and why it was written in Sanskrit first.
In any case, that is why this new, profound and original oral and written commentary by the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa is a great fortune indeed for all those practising, or wanting to practice the Vajrayana!
Music? For the guru connection, I Feel You by Depeche Mode, You’re My World by Cilla Black, and Something’s Gotten Hold of My Heart by Gene Pitney.
Compiled and transcribed by Adele Tomlin, 7th February 2024.
Fifty Verses on the Guru teaching by 17th Karmapa
Transcript – Day 2
Today is the second day of the 8th Arya Kshema Spring teachings. As you all know, the main reason for starting the Arya Kshema Spring teachings is to give the nuns a place to study and discuss the Dharma and in particular, for all the nunneries to come together and discuss the Dharma together and for them to each help each other learn. So for these and other reasons, we started it as the Arya Kshema winter teachings and then it became the Spring teachings “These are the reasons and purposes. So among the individuals who practice Dharma who are male and female, this is mainly thinking about female. Among the laypeople and monastics, we are mainly doing it for the monastics, the nuns.
In order for the teachings of study and practice to increase in the nunneries, and particularly for the practice to go well, first we need to study and teach the Dharma scriptures. So engaging in listening is very important. So this is something we all need to put effort into, and we need to help each other out in doing so. I will speak more about this later. I thought that today, before I started speaking about the Fifty Verses on the Guru I would say it as an encouragement to you.
Sanskrit original editions
As I mentioned in the previous day’s teachings, there are Sanskrit scripts of the root text, there is a Chinese translation and there are also Tibetan translations. These are the three main sources. Today, I will talk about the Sanskrit manuscripts.
We have two different Sanskrit manuscripts that are excellent. The first was found by the French scholar, Sylvain Levi[1] he found several different texts by Ashvagosha and among them all, was the text the Fifty Verses on the Guru. In 1929, he edited them and published them. [transcriber’s note: I looked this up and it is Autour Ashvagosha in Journal Asiatique 215, 1929, pp. 255-285.] The manuscript of the Fifty verses that the French scholar found, it is incomplete and is missing the last line of verse 33 to the end. Also, because the entire text was not there, the author was not there because there is no colophon. Later, several scholars from the Central Institute of Tibetan Studies in Varanasi edited this edition by Levi and because there were only 33 stanzas, they translated the missing verses from Tibetan into Sanskrit and published a complete edition of the root text in Sanskrit. So that is the second manuscript.
So the third Sanskrit manuscript was found by the Hungarian scholar, Peter-Daniel Szanto [I looked this up and it is Minor Vajrayāna text II. A new manuscript of the Gurupañcāśikā : https://openphilology.eu/media/pages/publications-peter-daniel-szanto/229737102-1705591841/papers_2013d_gurupancasika.pdf] from the University of Hamburg library, this was a different manuscript. He published this manuscript in 2013. When he published it, he did not edit or change it at all, he just transcribed it as it was and published it like that. So, along with the transcription in the Roman alphabet he also published it with a facsimile of the original Sanskrit manuscript.
This manuscript is missing the 4th folio because that is missing from the 2nd line of verse 35 until verse 48 are missing. So that is incomplete but one particular thing is that it does have a colophon. It says the author if Vapiladatta. This name is very similar to the Tibetan name I mentioned yesterday. We often say in Tibetan that the Fifty Verses are written by Ashvagosha and some people say they are the same different names, but others say they are different people. Not only are they different names but different people. So there are several different ways this is explained, one by Ashvagosha, one by Vabila and another saying they are the same person. In that way, we might say writing it by either is the same. In any case, this manuscript found by the Hungarian scholar is not so clean and has many spelling errors, he did not edit it.
So there is the French scholar’s manuscript, and the one found by the Hungarian scholar and they have differences between them. When we look at it first, it seems like some lines by Rinchen Zangpo, who translated it into Tibetan, some of his lines are closer to the manuscript found by the Hungarian scholar. Likewise, there are the commentaries by Je Tsongkhapa, the 7th Karmapa, Chodrag Gyatso and by Tsarchen Losal Gyatso and several others. In their commentaries some of the words they include as the root text are a little different than the ones found in Rinchen Zangpo’s. Some of these are actually similar to the first manuscript that are not found in the first manuscript but they are clear in the one of the Hungarian scholars. However, the second manuscript, if we say that is closer and is the basis for Rinchen Zangpo’s translation, is that what he used? It is difficult to say. In any case, whether they are the same manuscripts or not is something we need to examine.
Jetsun Dragpa Gyeltsan’s five main points to explain the root text
What it says in Jetsun Dragpa Gyaltsens’ Elucidations of the Fifty Verses on Guru explains it in five general points. There are five general points:
- Who is the author of the text?
- What Tantras is it based on?
- What was the purpose/reason for writing it?
- What time/When should it be taught?
- The actual topic of the text itself
The last is slightly different from how he phrases it but the meaning is the same. Yesterday I spoke about the first topic and today we have come to the second point.
2) The Tantras it is based on
As it says in the commentary by Jetsun Dragpa Gyeltsan Elucidation, it is based on several tantras, the Net of Illusion of Vairocana, Vajra Shije, the Tantra of Yamantaka, the black enemy, Sriparama, the Unexcelled Yoga Guhyasamāja, and the Vajra Tent. He gives the titles of several of these that are the most important sources but below it actually clearly mentions for each of the stanzas which tantra it is based on as its source. So this is explained clearly for each of the stanzas, so I do not need to say too much about it today. Later as we go through each of the stanzas we can discuss which of the tantras, it’s based on and the instructions given that are very clear, so I don’t need to speak too much about that today. So this is the tantras that it is based on. So it’s saying that it’s not written by a particular individual, it’s written by Vajradhara and the other Buddhas. So it’s based on the teachings and the tantras such as the Net of Illusion and so forth.
3) The purpose for which it was written
The third point is the purpose for which the Fifty Verses was written. if you wonder what was the intention or the purpose that the author had in mind when they wrote the Fifty verses on the Guru? Here there are several different explanations by different Scholars. In particular, it isn’t written clearly in the Fifty Verses on the Guru where he says “I’ve written it based on this text and this is the purpose for having written it”, but there is the oral lineage of instructions that are given, in which it is explained via the different lineages. Jetsun Dragpa Gyaltsen wrote in his Elucidation of the Fifty Verses he wrote that there are primarily three different purposes, or three different reasons. So with these different purposes/aims he credits them to each Guru.
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Root of All Siddhis – Drogmi Lotsawa
The first of them is by Lord Nyuguyangwa (Drogmi Lotsawa བྲོག་མི་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་ཤཱཀྱ་ཡེ་ཤེས་, (992-1072/1074), which says that “because the root of all siddhis is the guru, he wrote it to give up disdain for the guru and to please them.” So it explains that the explanation of Drogmi Lotsawa is probably from the lineage of Master Nigayatara. This is what is said. In any case this is an oral lineage passed down from the Acharaya Gayatara to Drogmi Lotsawa and passed through him.
What it says in this tradition is that the primary reason for writing the Fifty Verses is that the root of all siddhis (accomplishments), all of the common and ordinary siddhis is the guru. Whether you achieve the siddhis or not depends primarily on the guru. He wrote it so that we will be able to give up the wrong ways of relying on the guru such as disdaining or criticizing them and to go through the ways that please the gurus and the proper ways of relying on the guru. For example, writing the Fifty Verses on the Guru. Such as how to mention your guru’s name, how you should show respect to the guru and explain these ways how we can give up what is disrespectful, and explain them in respectful ways and saying’ if you do this it’s a mistake and if you do it this way it’s the proper way’, he’s giving the boundary between these two.
So for those who don’t know how to follow the Guru, they don’t know the Traditions, they don’t know the customs and so on, and in order for them to learn this and to give up all disdain for their Guru, any disrespectful aspects, and to engage in and extend thoughts and actions that please the guru. So he said that there was a purpose of writing it for that reason. So this is what is said in the tradition that passed down through Drogmi Lotsawa.
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Everything needed for practice – Master Anangavadra
Now another explanation is by Master Anangavadra (Yenlag Mepai Dorje), who says that he wrote it that students would not be without everything they needed for practice. So Master Anangavadra explains this as the reason for writing the Fifty Verses on the Guru is that would have everything they needed for practice. So that the students will be able to become receptive to the ? of Dharma and become authentic students, they have to have a lot of different aspects or facilities, qualities or abilities. You have to be able to see which ones you have, and which ones you don’t have, what you need to add to and what you need to fill in. This was written so that we’d be able to know this well. In other words, he wrote it in order that we can become authentic and qualified students, we would be able to see what it is that we need to increase, what sort of facilities we would need to bring ourselves in terms of our motivations, in terms of the way we perform our actions and whatever different way. If there’s anything that we are lacking then it’s a way to provide everything we need. So that is the reason why the Fifty Verses on the Guru were written. Master Anangavadra is probably someone whom we don’t really know. I will give a brief explanation of that later.
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To examine the connection between guru-disciple – from the lineage of Nāropa
The third explanation is by Gungtangpa. who is probably Gungtang Mawa Lotsawa. So according to Je Tsongkhapa’s he explained it by this. His birthplace was probably in Gungthang, I haven’t yet researched this but I believe that this Gungthang was probably Ma-gyu Lotsawa. What this says is that he has a tradition that was passed down through Nāropa, and that Nāropa said that the Fifty Verses were written in order to examine the connection between the master and the student.
When examining the connection, in general, we have to follow a qualified Guru. We can’t just say any Guru is a spiritual friend or Master, you need to find one who has all the qualifications, who is an authentic and qualified Guru. We need to examine whether the Guru has all the qualities they need in order to teach the tantras and the practices and see that Guru is one that has the qualifications and actually is a guru. That has both the name and the qualities. We need to examine the Guru order to see that .
Likewise, the guru cannot give all the students no matter who they are Dharma teachings. In particular, teachings on the secret mantra Vajrayāna. They shouldn’t be given to anyone who says “oh I need this teaching, I need this empowerment, I need this practice.” Actually, you have to examine first are they going to be receptive and are they an appropriate vessel for the secret Mantra. If they’re teaching them Mahayana, then you also have to see whether they’re appropriate for the Mahayāna. So you need to see whether they’re receptive to the Mahayana or receptive to the Vajrayāna.
So it was written so that the guru can also examine the student. So the particular reason for reading this is that as it says in the Fifty verses itself
“Heroes should scrutinize the connection between the master and the student because the guru and the student would have the same violations of samaya.”
If you have a student who’s not an appropriate vessel, if the Guru accepts them then that’s a fault for the guru and this also becomes a fault for the student. If you have a good student but they follow any Guru at all, then there is also the same violations or difficulties of samaya. So for these reasons it’s important for the guru and the student to look at the connection between the two of them. Before you can examine the connection, you have to know what are the qualifications of a guru, what is an authentic Guru, and what is a receptive student, who is an appropriate vessel. In order for us to know this he wrote the Fifty Verses. If we study this text then we can say that an authentic student and an authentic Guru would be this, a receptive student would be this, we can understand the qualities that make them like this.
For example, if we understand this text, we can see that there’s a master who does not have the qualities, who is a charlatan, who’s faking it. If we understand this we won’t have the doubts that’ll happen. Also we would not have any doubts about whether we’re accepting a student who is not an appropriate vessel. So that there won’t be any difficulties that would come from that. So, this is an explanation that comes from the lineage of explanation from Nāropa and according to that tradition this is the reason for writing the Fifty Verses on the Guru.
The Glorious ‘Pig-sty’ man – Master Anangavadra
Above we mentioned the Master Anangavadra, so who was he? He was an Indian Master now what I was just mentioning before about the reason or the aim, or purpose of writing the Fifty verses, I mentioned that there that there are three different primary explanations of why it was written. The first was from Drogmi Lotsawa, and that transmission from Drogme Lotsawa is actually the lineage that originally originated with Master Gayadara. We can mention each of these actually:
1) Master Gayadara;
2) Master Anangavadra who was himself an Indian master
3) Magyu Lotsawa, that comes from the oral lineage came from the Great Master the great Naropa.
So you can also list back each of these back to the origin, but we wonder who Master Anangavadra is because this is something that we don’t someone we don’t usually hear about. So I’d like to give a brief explanation of who he was. Actually, he was from a rather low caste. In India there was the caste system and many different higher and lower castes in India, right? There’s the there’s the brahmans and the chatas, and so forth and the outcast and so forth. He was from the lowest caste, the outcastes. Even though he’s from the low caste, he practiced the vajrayana, in particular he had the fortune to be able to study this, in particular the oral lineage of Mahamudra. I think that he probably was illiterate he probably did not know how to read. His master was Padmavajra, there are several Master Padmavajra and this one is said to be the great Padmavajra, so this is his name. So he gave him the instructions and he went to this mountain called Kodampa, and he spent time meditating there. In the end he achieved the wisdom of Mahamudra, he gained the realization of Mahamudra, it is said.
Because he had already realized Mahamudra, he gained a lot of control and ability himself he probably could have done pretty much anything he thought he should do, but because his master was the Great Master Padmavajra he thought that he should go ask his master what activities he should engage in. He said I’ve gained this realization of Mahamudra and now what should I do? And master great Padmavajra said to him, “you should go, and you should find a there’s a woman over there who’s a swine- herd/pig-farmer. So you should stay with her. Then you should work as a swine herd and so you basically should spend your time herding pigs and you should do this and then eventually you will become Vajrasattva, you will achieve the level of Vajrasattva or Vajradhara.
This is the prediction that he made so as Master great Padmavajra instructed he went to Oddiyana and he worked as a swine-herd in this town and they were spending time with this I don’t think they got married but he but he lived with her and he was a swine- herd and benefited beings.
Most people would just see him like an ordinary pig-herder, they didn’t see him as anything special. However, there were a few people who had the fortune, and he gave them the empowerments of the secret Mantra ripening and liberating them. Primarily because he made his livelihood was as a pig-hide he was called Master Shri pig-sty. I don’t know what this is. So Shri means is glorious, we call basically Master glorious pigsty, so it’s the Glorious pigsty and so that’s the name that he was given.
So this Master Anangavadra is included in the history of the lineages of seven transmissions of the Jonang Jetsun. So he’s in that lineage of the Jonang Jetsun and he’s also described in the beginning of the Golden Rosary of the Karma Kamtsang, where there is a history of the four oral transmissions, which are Mahamudra, Tummo Luminosity, and the Karmamudra, or the six great transmissions. When they are described in this text, they describe the four transmissions of Mahamudra, Tummo, Luminosity, Karmamudra. This Master Anangavadra is in the lineage of the Karmamudra practice.
He had a student whose name was the Mahasiddha Lake-born, Sokye. He was also a really extraordinary student but because it is not the right context, we will not speak about it today. If you’re wondering what was the motivation, or the purpose for the author to write the text, there are several different descriptions by the different scholars, and among them there are the three that I’ve just mentioned.
4) The time/when it should be taught: before making a secret mantra connection
We’ve gone through the third of the five general points now the fourth general point is the ‘time that it should be taught’. What this means there’s the time that this text the Fifty Verses should be taught if you’re wondering when should it be taught? When should it be studied? It said it should be discussing about what is the most appropriate time to teach it. Now Jetsun Dragpa Gyeltsen’s Elucidation of the Fifty verses on the Guru gives two different times. These different times, are not ordinary people trying to decide what seems most appropriate and what seems the best to us, is it about what did the great masters of the past say about it?
The first is Lord Drogmi Lotsawa, who wrote that in particular, on the evening of the preparations the student should be made to go for refuge and arouse bodhicitta. Then the next morning after the preparations, the should student should be taught this text. As it says here in the text:
“A student with pure intentions should go for refuge to the three jewels and following the guru should be given the recitation.”
So when we say, if someone is going to become a student, the day before, you first have to give the student the Refuge and Bodhisattva vows. Once they’ve been given refuge and bodhicitta, then you need to teach them the Fifty verses. If you’re going to accept them as students, they’re going to stay with the students then you should then teach them the Fifty verses and basically this means before you’ve made a connection. You make the connection through refuge and bodhicitta only. But before they become a particular disciple of the secret Mantra vajrayana, before they stay with the student you need to teach them the Fifty Verses of the guru, so I think this is what it’s saying.
Then there’s also Guntangpa’s explanation, which says that the Fifty Verses should be taught as the very beginning of making connection between the master and student. So this should be at the very beginning in particular, it says:
“When receiving empowerments and Dharma from the master, the student should be asked if they have already taken the vows of the Bodhisattva, principal liberation and bodhicitta, and if they want to take more vows. If they reply that they are willing to take more vows, then they teach them the Fifty Verses on the Guru and examine them. If they have not yet taken the vows but agreed to take them, they give the Refuge, bodhicitta vows and teach this.”
So what this is saying that before you make any connection between master and student, you need to teach this. For example, if you’ve got a student who has come to see the guru to receive Dharma teachings, they come to receive the teachings and you first ask them, do you have the vows of personal Liberation or the Bodhisattva vows, have you taken those vows? Have you taken those vows before? if they’ve already taken them, you ask them are you willing to take more vows? And you have to ask them this question. And if they say that they are willing to take more vows, then teach them the Fifty Verses on the guru, if they’ve not yet taken the vows but agreed to take them.
If they have just newly arrived and they say that they haven’t taken any vows yet, then you should give them refuge and bodhicitta, and then teach this. In any case the main thing is when a student comes to see the guru and if they’ve never taken vows, you have to ask they it’s quite possible that they may have already had Dharma teachings from another master.
So if they have already received Dharma teachings before, and they’re coming to receive more Dharma, they come to you as a guru and say that they’ve already taken the Refuge vows and the Bodhicitta vows. Then they teach them the Fifty verses on the Guru, and then the Master, the guru explains whether they’re qualified or not and then spends their time examining their mutual connections. It’s basically seeing whether the master and student have a karmic connection from the past. So, before you actually create the connection, an actual connection of Master-disciple you need to teach this text.
How the Fifty Verses was taught in the Karma Kagyu:
Next, I will speak a little bit about the how the Fifty Verses on the Guru was taught in the Karma Kagyu lineage. I’ll speak about this in brief. So from the time of the Seventh Karmapa, Chodrag Gyatso, there are many monastic colleges where one could study the sutras. Later, during the time of the Eighth, Ninth and the first part of the Tenth Karmapa’s life, many shedras were founded for the study of both Sutras and Tantras.
Not only were such shedras established, but within these monastic colleges there were many scholars who became quite learned in the scriptures of both Sutras and Tantras. In any case, there are the Constitutions, or the foundational rules of many different monasteries that were written by the Ninth Karmapa, Wangchug Dorje and among these are some constitutions for Tantra colleges that are still extant, we can still read them. It’s clear from these that before a connection of secret mantra Guru-disciple is made, one would have to study the Fifty Verses on the Guru. Then, after one has studied the Fifty Verses, only then can one receive empowerments from a qualified Guru. Then, in order to know and understand how to keep samayas and vows, you need to study them as explained in the Infinite Ocean of Samayas and in other texts. You need to study these as much as you can. For example, there is a rule-book for the tantric College, Tobgye Tashi Khyilkhor, written by the Ninth Karmapa, which says
“First, study the Fifty Gurus and gain certainty in the meaning. Then take an empowerment properly from a qualified Guru who holds the transmission of the perfect secret mantra, and then study the samaya vows in the Infinite Ocean of Samayas and keep them as directed, treasuring them as more dear than your own life.”
Likewise, from the rule books of the Karma Dargye Ling it says:
“Study until you have gained certainty the Ocean of Samaya, Fifty Verses, the Twenty Vows, the precepts of Vinaya, the Sublime Continnuum, the two books of Hevajra and so forth.”
Basically, during the times of the 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje and 9th Karmapa, Wangchug Dorje and in the first part of the 10th Karmapa’s life, there were many different monastic colleges for studying Tantras. In those tantric colleges, when you’re studying the Tantras, the one foundation for the studies was the Fifty Verses, and the second is also the Infinite Ocean of Samaya. So at this point I will give an introduction to the Infinite Ocean of Samaya, so you know what it says.
The Infinite Ocean of Samaya by 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje
Infinite Ocean of Samaya (དམ་ཚིག་རྒྱ་མཚོ་མཐའ་ཡས་པ་ Damtshig gyatsho thayepa) is a text by the third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje. This text teaches a compilation of all the Samayas taught in the four classes of Tantra: the ancient translation, the new translations and collects them all in one text and this is the text. So there’s a root text in verse and then there’s also an auto-commentary called this Stainless Essence. So there’s a root and then the auto commentary by the third Karmapa himself. There’s also an annotated commentary by the seventh Karmapa. Also a commentary by the Zhamarpa, Konchog Yenlag. In particular there is a explanation on the three types of vows by Mahapandita, Shakya Chogden. So this teaches about the Pratimoksha vows, the Bodhisattva vows and the tantric vows, the awareness holders. In these three sections, in the passage where he teaching the Vinaya of the awareness-holders, he says, I won’t read the text exactly.. in In Tibet there are two different traditions explaining the root downfalls. There’s one known to be known by Manjushrikirti, and there’s another one, contrasting explanation called the Explanation that eliminates confusion.
Basically, there are two different there’s the Manjushri tradition and the other one from the explanation that eliminates confusion. So these two: the presentation on the explanation that eliminates confusion has been taught elsewhere in other texts that I’ve written at length along with refutations and rebuttals. So here during the text by Shakya Chogden, he says he’s reading his text based upon Rangjung Dorje’s treatise, the ocean of Samayas, explains it in agreement with the great commentary by Manjushrikirti, this way I’m going to explain it in brief from there. Basically he’s saying that Shakya Chogden’s explanation of the three types of vows, explains the vows of the awareness-holders according to the Ocean of Samaya.
The question of whether the Ocean of Samaya is in complete agreement with Manjushrikirti’s great commentary is something that the seventh Karmpa Chodrag Gyatso wrote about. He said is in the auto commentary of the ocean of commentary there are many quotations from Master Manjsurikiriti’s great commentary. If you don’t explain it all that carefully it seems like that Manjushrikirti’s thought and Rangjung Dorje’s thought are basically the same. There a danger that you might think that’s the same but if you look at it in depth, there are a few of the good points from M’s explanations, but there are also many places where it’s different. Where Rangjung Dorje’s explanation is different but here is not the right time to explain all of that. So I think that’s enough for right now. In any case, this text the Ocean of Samaya must have in the past been studied very frequently in the karma Kamtsang lineage, and the reason why I say this is as I just said, Rangjung Dorje himself wrote the root text, he wrote an autocommentary on those texts. Zharma Konchog Yenlag, the 7th wrote an annotated commentary and there’s several other commentaries as well I believe.
There are also many questions and answers about this in the collected works of many people. So it’s basically in the past there is a great tradition of studying and a lot of interest in this text the Ocean of Samaya. In the interim there was a time you asked what is this Ocean of Samaya, it’s like people had never even heard of the text. So I think it was a very difficult time and so for that reason I was thinking about later if it’s a convenient for us I think, whenever we finished the Fifty verses on that, then I thought I should teach a little bit on this text the Ocean of Samaya, I think that that would turn out well.
5) The actual text of the Fifty Verses
So we’ve gone through the first to the fourth of the general points and now we’ve come to the fifth General topic, which is teaching the actual text. Basically, we’re talking about the actual Fifty verses. So up to this point we’ve been discussing about some issues that are related to the Fifty verses on the guru.
The fifth point is talking about actual text of the Fifty verses on guru. Now there are many different topics here different sections of the text. There are many different commentaries and they all divide the text into different outlines. The outline that I’m discussing today is according to the Karma Khenchen Rinchen Dargye’s explanation. it is similar to them but not exactly the same it’s just similar. it has three parts: the introduction, the meaning of the text and the concluding text. I’s is explaining the whole text to the five the Fifty verses according to the three parts.
5.1 Introduction
The first of these is the introduction and this also has three sub- parts. First is the meaning of the title, The homage, and the pledge to compose. So the introduction is taught by these three points. So the first of these, teaching the meaning of the title the Fifty verses means in Sanskrit the Gurucha and in Tibetan – Lama Ngachupa, Fifty verses on the guru, and that title in Chinese.
When I speak about this in the future, we will first have the Sanskrit, then we’ll have the Tibetan, then Chinese. So there’s also Chinese will also in tibetan we have the translation only by Rinchen Zangpo, we do not have the one by Chag Lotsawa these days, so there’s no way that we can speak about that. So we will use the translation by Rinchen Zangpo. For example, in Sanskrit we have the two different Sanskrit texts, the two different Sanskrit manuscripts. So where there are big differences, I’d like to speak about them and if we have to explain everything, or to compare the differences at snow good we’ll only speak about the large differences between the two manuscripts.
5.1.1 Meaning of the title
So in general when we begin teaching a text, there’s the reason why all the Masters always speak about the reasons why speak about the name the title of the text in Sanskrit. Usually we give three different titles for reading the titles in Sanskrit. These reasons for stating the name in Sanskrit come primarily from the Kadampa tradition. I think that this is the tradition of the Kadampa Masters. The reason for this is that when you look at the old uh commentaries on the stages of the path by the Kadampa Masters, they all state these three and they explain them at length. So from the time of the Kadampa forefathers we’ve had this tradition of speaking about the reasons for giving the names in Sanskrit.
The reason for mentioning the name in Sanskrit what are these three reasons:
1) the first is the purpose of knowing and being grateful for what they have done;
2) the purpose of the venerable source; and
3) the purpose of learning the language.
These are the three purposes. The first is the purpose of feeling gratitude, second is the purpose of the venerable source, and the third is learning the language in order to know the language that’s the third reason.
- The Purpose of Knowing and Being Grateful: Being grateful to harmful situations/Indians/India and Dromtonpa’s advice
The first of these is the purpose of knowing and being grateful for what the Masters have done. How is reciting the name in Sanskrit a way of knowing and being grateful for what Masters have done? How do we understand this? If anyone has done something to benefit us then that benefit is something we should never forget. We should always feel grateful to them and always think “oh they’ve given me this benefit in the past”, even if it’s only a small benefit you think “that there was some time when I needed that or a situation when I needed help they benefited me, they helped me”. Then you think “I’m not going to forget this and so you keep this a long time”, and you always remember this so that you never forget it and always feel gratitude for it.
Geshe Sharawa said of course, with other people you feel that if someone with the wish to benefit you benefits you, then of course, we have to be grateful for these kindnesses are ones that we can never forget, and there no need to mention this. If instead of thinking that they want to help you , they want to harm you and they do something to harm you but in the result of that is that instead of because of them harming you, you were able to encounter the Dharma then the bad circumstance becomes your friend. If the result comes out in accord with the Dharma then you should also remember them with gratitude.
For example, in Milarepa’s life-story what it says is in Milarepa’s life story what he says there was his Uncle and Aunt who treated him terribly and for this reason Mila’s mother was unable to bear it and sent him to learn sorcery. After he studied sorcery, he did a lot of misdeeds and after doing so many wrongs in the end he felt incredible regret. In order to purify these misdeeds and in this lifetime to achieve the state of Buddhahood in that lifetime he thought “if I if I can’t do dharma like that in this life, there’s only one place I’m going to go in this my next life which is the lower realms” So because he had this really strong feeling, he went to see Marpa who reated Milarepa terribly and made him go through incredible hardships in order to purify his obscurations.
So he treated them horribly for this purpose and so there’s a lot to at the point where think about this, actually the fact that Milarepa’s aunt and uncle taught him terribly became the circumstances that inspired him to practice the Dharma. So for this reason, the Aunt and Uncle of Milarepa didn’t help him by thinking that they wanted to help him but by treating him badly it brought him to the Dharma and the adversity became an aid. So in the end, they’re very kind to him and for that reason, he said that you have to remember that kindness this is like one example of saying that you have to remember the harm that that actually benefiting you in the Dharma. When someone harms you and that brings you to the Dharma that’s a benefit and that benefit is among all the different benefits is actually the best of all benefits is bringing someone to the Dharma. So because he was harmed by his aunt and uncle Milarepa started to practice the Dharma. So because of that he recognized that they had given an incredibly great benefit. Likewise, if you think about Tibet in the past there was no Dharma in Tibet is was like this said that the people of Dharma were in like pitch Darkness. They couldn’t know what was virtuous and non-virtuous, they didn’t know how to make ethical choices, but because of the kindness of the three Dharma Kings the Dharma spread and people could enjoy happiness equal to the gods. So where did that Dharma come from? Well it came from the Dharma came from India. So because it came from India we must feel grateful to India. This is what the Kadampa forefathers said.
So for this reason in the old days everyone who came from India, from a beggar on up were all called Acharya which means a master. They weren’t using this as just an ordinary word or as a disrespectful they’re using it as like a very honorific or polite word. They’re saying master and so they would seat them at like the head of the ranks. There’s a story about this actually and the story is that in Kham and once there was probably during the lifetime of Dromtonpa Gyalwai Jungney and of course himself had gone to Kham. So one time in Kham, there were a lot of people who gathered and so there’s a big gathering of many people and during this gathering there is an Indian Acharya who came. Basically an Indian person came so because in the past all the Indians were called acharya out of politeness and respect. So when they came to this gathering in Kham this Indian fellow arrived. So on the Thrones, there is the highest Throne there and there is a cast bronze statue of a Buddha. So that statue of the Buddha was on the highest throne and there’s a slightly lower one and that’s the second the highest was the Buddha statue and the second one it’s like the number two seat and it was empty and so the Indian fellow just got up and sat on it and when he got up and sat on it then everyone was like is you shouldn’t sit there this is like the Geshes if he comes that’s where he’s going to sit it’s not okay for you sit there Geshe so and so is coming and that’s his seat if you sit there then there’s no place for the Geshe to sit. That’s what they said to this Indian fellow he was not an easy guy and kind of clever and he was very quick with his tongue and he wouldn’t get down just still sitting there looking kind of saying all these big things. So when you read Dharma text at the beginning you say ” in Sanskrit, if it says in Sanskrit then I’m not getting down I am Indian if you’re recite it in the Indian language at beginning of a Dharma text, then I’m not getting down. If at the beginning of a Dharma text, there’s no words in the Indian language then I’ll get down.” They really didn’t have anything to say about that because the beginning of every Dharma text it says in the Indian language. So they had no choice but to leave him.
When Dromtonpa heard about this, he said kind of as a bit of a joke was “we basically do say in the Indian language at the beginning if we don’t know how to say this that’s what it means. If you don’t know how to explain it in the Indian language if you don’t understand it the way understand it is exactly what that Indian fellow said. The reason why we say in the Indian language at the beginning of a Dharma text is to show is to show the venerable source of the text. Instead remember the Indians with gratitude. This is the purpose and the reason for saying it.” as Dromtonpa said.
In brief, when you think about this we’ll know about the deeds of the great beings of the past and feel grateful to them because when we know the good things they’ve done, then we need to recognize what it is. Then we need to do everything we can to feel grateful to them and this is a quality that all the great beings of the past had. In Tibetan there is Zhang Nanang Dorje Wangchug who is a well-known Guru. He made this complaint that basically every Acharya who came from India, which basically means every Indian person who came to at the very least you’d give him like a piece of gold leaf. India is so kind and because of them we are able to practice Dharma we know how to make ethical choices and this all becomes because the Indians. So no matter what Indian person comes, I’m going to give him at least you know a leaf of gold. So this is the oath that he made.
In brief, in the past during the times of the Kadampa forefathers when the monasteries did everything according to the Dharma and at that time there are a lot of Indians who come and kind of brag and say “I’m Indian, I’ve come from India, the place where Dharma came from.” They were kind of boasting about it and these good Tibetan lamas would actually give them a welcome that was different than they do for anyone else, and this is said to be a sign that the teachings had not diminished because a sign of remembering with gratitude. It’s also because the Dharma had spread from India to Tibet, so they had been thinking that about that with how an incredible kindness it was. So for this reason, they paid respect to all Indians and considered them to be very sacred. Later, people didn’t understand this right? They would say the word Atsaras and people think it’s like a beggar, as like a clown, like when we have the Lama dancing, we have the Atsaras right? In Tibetan, we call them the Atsaras when I was young in in my homeland before I was seven in my homeland we would go to a monastery when they’re having llama dancing. They’d have a grand puja then we’d go see the Atsara and they have like long noses and be strange looking kids and little we think that these are kind of strange it’s kind of funny. Everyone would say the Atsara is coming and crowd forward to see.
Also in Bhutan, they say the Atsara is like a clown. In the past, when everyone say Astaraya and everyone would think master and teacher or Atsara and pay respect to them right? It is someone whom we pay respect to, and somebody consider it important but later it changed. So say then we’re talking about Atsaryal, then it is like some sort of a clown or you say I mean like some sort of a beggar. So that’s what we think of them like right? This is the purpose of remembering the deeds with gratitude.
2. The purpose of showing the venerable source of Dharma: indian roots
The second is the purpose of learning the Dharma learning the source of the Dharma. When at the beginning, we say it’s in Sanskrit in the Indian language, is that we know that this is Dharma that was originated in Dharma or is translated from an Indian language. So this is how we understand that. So the origin of the Dharma the Buddhist Dharma is India the place where it first was born, or developed from was India. It was translated directly into Sanskrit. So it’s not like it went through another language, it wasn’t translated from an Indian language into like another language such as Chinese and then Chinese into it. If that happens and you’ve got a double translation and in the middle there many of meanings go from one language to another they get changed, and it’s like in many points are going to be incomplete or we might be mistaken. So instead of that it’s translated directly from Sanskrit into Tibetan, so it’s a very good source and a very reliable source. So that is another reason why we say in the Sanskrit language or in Indian.
During the ancient translation times, the Tibetan texts written by Tibetan Masters into Tibetan, at the beginning they didn’t write anything. There was nothing, they didn’t write in Tibetan or anything there was nothing like that. Those texts translated from Chinese, they wrote ‘In Chinese’ and give the phonetics for the Chinese words then beneath that. Then they would write ‘In Tibetan’ . When they translated from the Sanskrit or the Indian languages, not only did they say that it was translated, at the end, even the things that had translated and edited and finalized by Masters together. They could write there ‘In Sanskrit’ at the end. Then there would be a colophon listing the master and the editor at the very end. So it’s only those that had not been corrected according to the new Tibetan if it was not been re-edited by a master and editor, they were very careful if it was unless that process had gone through you could not say it was translated from in Chinese into the Indian language. So no matter what language, you had to be extremely careful, if even a single word is wrong then that’s a big mistake right? So, for that reason they’re extremely careful about it.
For these reasons, as showing the venerable source of the Dharma saying that it’s directly translated from the Sanskrit language, then it is a good source and is well translated. So, generally when we think about this not only whether we think about the Dharma then we’re thinking about our lamas that we take our vows from, the people we work with the people that we are friends with, we need to have good people. We can’t just spend our time with anyone at all. Well the guru also has to have a good origin and source, someone who has the qualifications. If you just say there’s a guru and then say: “oh I go for refuge and take them as a guru.” Likewise with your friends, it’s not like everyone you meet at all is your friend you’re not making it and then trust them, if you do that then you’re going to have difficulties. Likewise if you have a house where you’re staying then that house must be appropriate for the way you lead your life and everything and has to match that. You can’t just live anywhere at all if you live in any house at all it’s not all right. So whatever it is and with the Dharma you have to have a good and appropriate source. It’s very important to have good source, otherwise sometimes they have problems with this some these days right? In the past, when I was in Tibet there were many times we would get fake rice like people would they said you can get rice that looked like rice but it was actually made out of plastic. So when you think but if get anything at all. So you think that it is actual rice but in the end it ends up just being fake rice. So it’s important that you have a good reliable source and that’s what this is showing. That’s a second reason.
- The purpose of learning the language
The third reason is the purpose of learning the language and what this means is when you’re saying the ‘Gurupanchashika’, the word Guru we translate into Tibetan means Lama. ‘Panchashika’ means 50 Verses. So knowing to how to combine the meanings with the words and how to associate the words and the meanings. So even if you do not know that much, just knowing that makes an imprint of the Sanskrit language within you, even if you don’t really know the imprints of the Sanskrit well. At least you’ll know a couple words here or there and you’ll be able to recite a few words. There’s a particular reason for this because as it is said in the Prajnaparamita, it says: Transcendent Prajna is aught with these very words, these very letters, these very phrases, so because the Mahayana Dharma was taught in Sanskrit is important.
So for that reason, it makes some sort of an imprint of the Sanskrit language is a real purpose and good reason for doing so. You might wonder why doesn’t it say in the Noble aspiration of Excellent conduct: “may I teach dharma in every single language of the Gods and tongues of humans.” Isn’t it saying that you should teach the Dharma in every language? If you think that that’s what it means and you’re talking about the languages of the Gods and the humans and so on. This talk about teaching the Dharma for the common vehicles for people in general. this many l say so in general these days the Buddha Dharma, when we’re researching topics that are related to Buddhism it’s important for us to know several different languages not just Tibetan. If we really wanted to get to really deep research of this, we need to know four different languages, we need to know Sanskrit we need to know Pali, we need to know Chinese, and we need to know Tibetan. The reason for this is that most of the Buddhist Dharma is in these four languages;. There is a fair amount in Sanskrit, the basis for the Dharma that remains is in Sanskrit and Pali. so basically historically in history the southern Traditions are primarily in Pali, and the northern Traditions from Chinese and Korea and so forth the most the mother the basis most of these is the Sanskrit language.
The third language is Chinese and the fourth is Tibetan. So in order for us to really know all of these, we need to know all four of these languages. So for example I think this is similar to what all the masters of past thought when they were saying that we need to make imprints of these languages. There’s a student of Potawa’s who said he said to Potawa some people say it’s a student or if it’s like some people say it’s p I think it’s probably not P that’s not but it’s probably a student. There’s a student who said if we describe it as that there a student of Potawa’s and he said to Potawa: you and all the Kadampa Masters are always saying that there’s a reason we always need to make these imprints of Sanskrit and learn the titles and so on. They said this is really important they saying that Sanskrit is an important language. First of all it’s because to have to go it’s more important to be born in India right because if you don’t know Indian languages, then you won’t then you know the Dharma, the moment you’re born there when if start to learn it your mother will start teaching you Sanskrit. For the Tibetans the Sanskrit was extremely difficult, so the student said I bet rather be born in India itself that’s best of all if I could do that then I could moment you learn to speak my mom will teach me Sanskrit. Potawa said your real stupid that is idiotic. The Indians themselves what they say that what we always talk about is that’s what we call colloquial, the common language, colloquial it’s not Sanskrit. Even if you’re born in India you’d have to study Sanskrit from the very beginning. You’d have to study it specifically it’s just not that you’d learn it because you’ were born there. If you’re born in India there’s no certainty that you know Sanskrit. Even in the old days, it wasn’t certain that definite that if you were born in India you speak Sanskrit. These days, people don’t use Sanskrit much anymore so this is how it’s become this is the situation that we’re in right in any case.
SAWADEE THAIGIR l,
By now you may have noticed that Mila’s Namtar can explain just about everything Kagyu.