Teaching according to Mahayana likewise aim to transcend the world, but they are at the same time aware of the world and useful to the world. Meditators in the Theravada tradition seek great awakening first of all for themselves alone and their minds, absorbed in practice, allow no room and no time to thoughts of the suffering of sentient beings. Those aware of their Bodhi mind will make the great vow, wanting to follow the Mahayana tradition.
During the five hundred years following the Buddha's Parinirvana the master's teaching spread throughout India and Theravada was its only vehicle. The first literary work characterizing the distinctive features of Mahayana was the Awakening of Faith by Ashvaghosa Bodhisattva. Seven hundred years after the Buddha's Parinirvana, Nagarjuna Bodhisattva founded and perfected the Madhyamika system. Two brothers, the fully emancipated Bodhisattvas Asangha and Vashubandha, founded and systematized the Yogacara philosophy almost nine hundred years after the buddha's final nirvana. The early development was followed by the splitting up of the Mahayana doctrine into two schools: The school of nature and the school of form. The first taught Mahayana Dharma of the formless, sometimes referred to as the School of Voidness, and the second taught Mahayana Dharma of Form and was known as the School of Existence. The two schools gained considerable ground and attracted numerous outstanding teachers. By the time the profound teaching was introduced to China it has been already meticulously formulated by a host of illustrious sages and propagated the world over.
Buddhadharma blended harmoniously with the Chinese thought and its teachings were thoroughly understood there. Eventually, ten sects came onto existence; most were Mahayana, some Theravada, while some combined the two.
During the late Han and Chin Dynasties, three monks were engaged in a translation of Buddhist texts. Venerable Kasyapamatanga, An Shih Kao and Dharmaraksa translated some of the Mahayana sutras from the original Sanskrit into Chinese but their translations have not become widely known. It was not until the eastern Tsin that the Tripitaka was translated in full by Kumarajiva and made known to a very large audience. Several major sutras of the Mahayana cannon, namely the Avatamsaka, Nirvana, Vaipulya, and theVijnanamatra-vada as well as many additional texts were translated by Bhadrapada, T'an Wu Chen, Bodhiruci and Paramartha and others. In the T'ang Dynasty, Tripitaka Master Husan Tsang journeyed to India in search of original Buddhist texts which he subsequently translated, thereby assuring their authenticity. Esoteric sutras were translted by Wu Wei, Vajrabodhi, Amohavajra and several other monks whose practice was Tantric and the Avatamsaka sutra was translated for the second time by Siksananda. Due to great and continuing efforts by numerous translators endowed with inner light, people were taught by these expedient means and as the result of it the following eight sects have survived and continued to prosper: The School of Three Commentaries; Fa Hsiang; T'ien Tai; Hua-Yen; True Word (Esoteric); Pure Land; Ch'an; and Vinaya (Discipline). The preceding was a brief summary of the historical and textual development of Buddhism in China and now we are ready to glance at the goals set out by Mahayana.
Mahayana is often referred to as the "Bodhisattva Vehicle". The Sanskrit term "bodhisattva" is composed of the root word bodhi, i.e. perfect wisdom (prajna), and sattva, meaning an "awakened being whose actions without exception make for harmony". Thus the term stands for a being both enlightened and enlightening. A bodhisattva is often referred to the "great sentient being". By what means can one become such a person? Generating great compassion and great vow; endeavoring to attain concentration, the level of which is equaled with that of one's wisdom; being determined to benefit all sentient beings and by those means achieving perfect unity with all others; applying the most expedient Dharma in each situation as the best method of teaching. For the completion of the bodhisattva career it is necessary to generate the Bodhi mind and thereby obtain the great Tao.
One should be frequently thinking of all buddhas; contemplating body as suffering; seeking the supreme fruit steadfast on the path; and practicing kindness and compassion for all sentient beings. The following is an excerpt from Vashubandhu Bodhisattva's commentary (sastra), consisting of four points essential for practice, each of which is elucidated by five explanatory notes:
Five Contemplations of all Buddhas
1) Contemplating all buddhas past, present and future in the ten directions, and realizing that initially theirs were minds defiled just as ours are presently. They have attained complete enlightenment, each deserving the title of the World Honored One.
2) Contemplating all buddhas in the three periods, I endeavor to generate an intrepid mind like theirs; since they have attained the great awakening, I should be able to do likewise.
3) Contemplating all buddhas in the three periods, their giving rise to boundless, luminous wisdom, their great endurance and purifying actions: Through their own effort they uprooted obstacles and defilements and transcended the three realms. I shall follow their example and attain the way they did.
4) Contemplating all buddhas in the three periods, great heroes among human beings, who have crossed the ocean of defilement, of birth and death. I recognize that I am a human being like them and that I am capable to following their example.
5) Contemplating all buddhas in the three periods and how they made enormous progress abandoning mundane concerns and wealth bringing to light unfathomable wisdom. I presently determine to learn how to follow their example.
Five Contemplations of Body-as-suffering
1) Contemplating my body as five skandhas and four elements, and the numberless evil karmas generated thereby, I want to abandon it all.
2) Contemplating my body with all its impurities and all the dirty outflows from its nine openings, I cultivate revulsion.
3) Contemplating my body with all its greed, hatred and ignorance and countless defilements, I want to abandon it all.
4) Contemplating my body as a bubble, as froth, as birth and death, thought after thought, I want to depart from it all.
5) Contemplating my body as being imbued with ignorance, generating immeasurable evil karma and turning on the wheel of life in the six ways with no benefit whatsoever, I want to abandon it all.
Five Contemplations Leading to the Attainment of the Supreme Fruit
1) Contemplating the distinctive and luminous adornment of the characteristic marks on the physical bodies of all Tathagatas, I want to learn and to practice, knowing that to encounter them is to be rid of defilements.
2) Contemplating the Dharmakaya of all Tathagatas, forever stainless and completely free from defilements, I want to learn and practice.
3) Contemplating all Tathagatas, their irreproachable morality and tranquillity, recognizing their relinquishment of delusive thoughts, observing their limitless wisdom and omniscience rediate the unconditioned state of nirvana, I want to learn and practice.
4) Contemplating the Tathagatas and their ten powers, four kinds of fearless states and their boundless compassion, I want to learn and practice.
5) Contemplating all the Tathagatas who pity, commiserate and protect all sentient beings, correcting delusion due to their many kinds of wisdom, I want to learn and practice.
Five Contemplations of Compassion for Sentient Beings
1) Contemplating all sentient beings as confined by ignorance and attachments, enduring great suffering. They shun the teaching of cause and effect and generate evil karma. Ignoring the true Dharma they stray on the heterodox path and drown in the sea of defilement.
2) Contemplating all sentient beings hamstringed by many kinds of suffering, I see their dread of birth, disease, old age and death. Oblivious of liberation they perpetuate evil karmas and their actions never cease to produce sorrow, suffering and defilements. When separated from their loved one(s) they continue to cling. When compelled to face what they hate, they do not relinquish their resentment. Furthermore, they continue generating anger and jealousy, thus bringing more evil to this world.
3) Contemplating all sentient beings committing evil karma due to their countless, varied desires, I pity them. Although they may have reached an understanding of desires as tied to suffering, they cannot relinquish them. Then wishing to reach the joyous states, they lack the requisite discipline, and though they need not necessarily suffer in these instances, they plant causes of suffering.
4) Contemplating all sentient beings and their actions laden with evil, the way they transgress the grave precepts while trembling with fear and apprehension, engage in the five rebellious actions, devoid of shame, slander true Dharma as well as the Mahayana Dharma. They follow ego-based views and their actions are self-serving and arrogant and while sentient beings do not lack ability, they are intoxicated by conceit and see no reason for repentance; thus they break off their good root.
5) Contemplating all sentient beings as they reject the practice of true Dharma, born at the time when due to eight conditions it is difficult to see a buddha and hear the Dharma; reflecting on those who, though born at the time of the Buddha and having heard the true Dharma, did not accept and upheld it, but became involved in heterodox practices and/or harsh ascetic discipline instead. They overlook the right path then and they overlook it now. Those who have reached the heavenly realm of neither thinking nor non-thinking, mistake it for nirvana and do not realize that when their wholesome retribution runs out, they must return to the three ways.
In all four articles above, compassion for all sentient beings hols a place of special importance. In the words of Vashubandhu Bodhisattva, "When observing sentient beings endlessly perpetuating evil karma that results in suffering due to ignorance, bodhisattvas give rise to great compassion and seek to attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi as if their heads were on fire. They think that all sentient beings are defiled and resolve to save them all." The sentient beings are greatly deluded and boundless compassion is necessary in order to help them. Compassion can bring them happiness and let them depart from suffering. All bodhisattvas practice the six paramitas and ten thousand pure actions to assist and save all sentient beings. Compassion is the foundation that supports all existence and sentient beings are expediently converted by countless dharmas.
In the discourse on Samantabhadra Bodhisattva's practices and vows, the Avatamsaka sutra says" "When a bodhisattva accords with sentient beings, then he accords with and makes offerings to all buddhas. To honor and serve all sentient beings is equal to paying homage to all Tathagatas. Why? Because an all-embracing, compassionate heart that welcomes all sentient beings is the essence and the origin of the Tathagata." It is the means of generating Bodhi-citta, whereby incomparable enlightenment is attained.
When a tree grows in the poor soil of the wilderness and its roots receives water, it develops plentiful foliage; it blooms and bears fruit. The Bodhi tree, king among trees, growing in the wilderness of life and death, has all sentient beings for its roots and all bohisattvas and all buddhas for blossoms and fruit. When sentient beings encounter all-embracing compassion, the Bodhi tree will bloom and bear the fruit of bodhisattvas and buddhas. How? The bodhisattvas have attained supreme, perfect enlightenment. This being so sentient beings are indispensable to Bodhi. Without them no bodhisattva would ever attain the incomparable enlightenment.
Men and women from good families, please consider this parable carefully. Look upon sentient beings with an impartial mind and cultivate all-embracing compassion. To bestow this compassion on all sentient beings without exception is comparable to being successful when making an oblation to all Tathagatas. A bodhisattva's effort to compassionately yield to all sentient beings will never cease, not even when sunya-dhatu, spheres, karma and defilements of sentient beings come to an end. My effort of concord will never cease, but will be pursued with incessant and unremitting concentration, culminating in indefatigable actions of my body, my discourse and my volition."
For the practice of bodhisttva action it is required that one aspires upwards, seeking buddhahood, and proceeds downward converting sentient beings. Faith is the dynamic of the upward move, compassion that of downward.
For saving sentient beings Bodhi is the key expedient. But what kind of karmic action is needed to produce expedient Dharma? Discipline, concentration and wisdom are , no doubt, the universal foundation. In addition to these, three more virtues are recommended for well rounded practice. Charity, patience and zeal, in addition to discipline, meditation and wisdom complete the set of the six paramitas or virtues. Zeal assures progress, charity or giving fosters openness toward all sentient beings, and patience supports diligence in study and practice. The six paramitas can ferry oneself and others across the sea of birth and death to the shore of nirvana.
The first perfected virtue is giving or dana-paramita in Sanskrit; it includes three kinds of giving. A pure being endowed with morality can give property or wealth to the point of giving up all he/she has. Or a bodhisattva who has understood poverty makes the gift of his/her body, speech and thought by means of spreading Buddhadharma. He/she may renounce his/her head, hands, or any part of his/her body while maintaining the mind of equanimity; or give up own country, family or spouse and turn the merit over to all sentient beings. Providing protection from danger or assurance of safety is the last of the three kinds of giving (abhaya-pra-dana in Sanskrit). The most excellent of all is the gift of complete enlightenment for the benefit of the world. When a bodhisattva has given a gift, he/she never expects a reward, nor does he/she give any thought to the recipient of the gift. According to the Vajracchedika-prajnaparamita Sutra (Diamond Sutra) "A bodhisattva's mind should not abide anywhere when giving alms". Although the mind does not abide anywhere, it nevertheless does not exhaust cause and effect and the bodhisattva's merits of retribution and blessings surpass by far those of someone with a hidden agenda when doing good. The pure and passion-free being, liberated of karmic action, can recover the original perfection of his/her luminous mind and by comprehending it he or she, the bodhisattva, can surpass all the merit in the world, Such circumstances are pristine, incomparable and outstanding.
The second is morality (silaparamita). Perfect morality is the foremost quality of enlightenment. The object of this virtue is to develop an acute sense of wholesome action strengthened by refraining from evil actions, thus generating the cool calm of perfect morality while the one practicing it is still attached to the sense-qualities. The guidelines, called precepts, are usually arranged in sets. In Buddhist practice seven sets of precepts are known; within these , the number of precepts increases in proportion to the depth of commitment on the part of the practitioner. Chinese adherents to the teachings of Confucius, for example, follow rules whereby ceremonies are performed at the sound of appropriate music as a means to establish the mind of courtesy, delight and happiness. There should not be anything contrived and during such an occasion everything should happen naturally. Our practice of precepts, once we have accepted them, should by uninterrupted in order to eradicate our defelements.
The third is the perfected virtue of patience (ksantiparamita). Insults are very difficult to bear. When a bodhisattva hears someone speaking to him/her harshly and offensively, he/she wisely remains quite at ease and contented. Some insults can be considered good teaching and there is no reason for anger. One may ask oneself, "who speaks, who hears, how, to whom, by whom? How can one's left hand fight with one's right hand? To separate oneself from the thieves-as-difilements, one should think "as many ills as there are in the world, I will endure them all." Then the practitioner stands in the perfection of patience.
The fourth is the perfection of vigor or zeal (viryaparamita). The practitioner on the enlightening path needs to foster a pure and courageous mind when practicing the excellent perfection of vigor. Keeping in mind his/her duty towards other beings, day and night in his thought free from hesitation he/she abides in his/her resolute intention similar to that of a mother attending to her only child.
The fifth is concentration or meditation (Ch'an in Chinese, dhyanaparamita in Sanskrit). In its early stages, this practice calms the body and focuses the mind, freeing it from stay thoughts. The concentration applied to daily activity may lead to samadhi of action. Practice-of-Principle samadhi is described in the Awakening of Faith as follows: "(The adept) should be in a quiet place, sit erect and even-tempered and should not pay attention to breathing, nor to form or color, space, earth, water, fire, wind, the seen, the remembered, the heard, the conceived. Arising thoughts should be instantly released and the thought of releasing them should, likewise, be allowed to vanish. Whatever is out there transcends thought and should not be produced and extinguished moment to moment. The meditator should not meditate on the Âexternal' objects of the senses and subsequently negate them, eventually negating the meditating mind. Should the mind wander, it should be gently led back to the correct thought. It should be understood that Âcorrect thought' is the thought that is of the moment. All is mind only and whatever Âexternals' are there cannot be truly known to us. The mind is likewise void of given moment. When the meditator engages in activities such as walking, standing or moving about, he/she should be mindful at all times, continuously observing and examining. This discipline of the mind takes a long time to master, but once it is accomplished the mind is completely subdued and dwell trained. Such a quality will, in turn, empower the meditator to bring to fruition Âcessation' and to sustain the state known as the Âconcentration or samadhi of suchness'; all his/her defilements are eradicated and faith is increased. Thereafter the state of non-retrogression follows." To summarize, there is mundane absorption, supramundane absorption, and an absorption that surpasses the supramundane. There is a fourth absorption as well; it will be discussed at another opportunity.
The sixth is the perfection of wisdom (prajnaparamita). It is said that the one who trains in perfection of wisdom trains in buddhahood. To abide in perfect wisdom one must abide in Emptiness, meaning that the mind is like a perfect mirror that reflects everything but has no wish to hold on to any of the reflections. Perfection of wisdom arms the adept with acute discernment of true from false as applied to teachings, to views and to paths. In the Mahayana tradition it is expected that the practitioner will attend to all six paramitas because they are designed to be mutually supportive and enhance one another. Without concentration, wisdom is difficult to attain, and without wisdom meditation is mere physical exercise. Without the virtue of giving, vigor or zeal will be thwarted and the meditator will not be able to accept and save sentient beings. And without the three studies, namely discipline, concentration and wisdom, the practice of giving will not result in planting good causes for heavens and for human beings. Upholding discipline without patience makes work with one's anger futile. Vigor by itself can only lead to a dead end.
In according with the Mahayana Dharma, all of the six virtues must be perfected and that is a task that requires more than just one or two lifetimes. To attain such perfection one will have to endure the cycle of birth and death for many kalpas to come. It is distressing to realize that we not accomplished any in our previous existences, and what we have learned, we have forgotten at the time of our rebirth. We have to make the following four great vows:
Sentient beings are numberless. I vow to save them.
Defilements are countless. I vow to eradicate them all.
The dharma-doors are limitless. I vow to master them.
The supreme enlightenment I vow to attain.
These vows should be repeated daily, made to act as a rudder, maintaining the meditator steadily on the course to enlightenment. When the six paramitas are practiced diligently, supreme enlightenment can be attained independently of what school or vehicle the adept practices.
It is hoped that the above presentation of Mahayana Dharma has succeeded in conveying its great potential for the enhancement of spirituality.
To hear the Dharma and to see it practiced is a rare privilege, the result of great causes and conditions converging. The dharmakaya, or the Buddha's essential nature or the Void aspect, formless and inconceivable, completely pervades the Dharmadhatu. The visible human body of the Buddha in the world of mind-produced forms is called Nirmanakaya or the transformation body. Because sentient beings are numberless, the stature of the transcendental Buddha is commensurate or boundless. He manifests himself in form and size that correspond to the potential of those he is responding to. Initially, Buddhadharma was not distinct from all other existence and there was nothing to be said; the term "Buddhadharma" did not exist, the teaching had no form. If there was no Buddha and no great enlightenment first, there could be no Dharma to be taught and no path to be revealed afterwards. The Buddha's appearance in the world and his teaching were expedient means to save all sentient beings, and since sentient beings vary greatly, the Buddha adjusted his method accordingly. This point is particularly important for the student to Buddhist history in order to avoid biased views. It is difficult to assure perfect delivery of the teaching in every single instance and it is twice as difficult to adjust it to the capacity of the audience in each case so the two mesh without residue. Teaching that matches perfectly the potential of those who listen is perfect Dharma. Because of the varied potentials, there are dissimilar versions of the teaching and therefore Mahayana and Theravada are unlike each other.
A rule of conduct for bodhisattvas advises them to "be particularly cautious on two points: First, one should not expound small teaching to a great potential lest he/she give rise to doubt. We need to keep in mind there is only one source of all teachings and remind ourselves that is why all of the dharmas are perfect; the differences come from diverse formulations mesh, providing us with a configuration of check-points, helpful to our orientation when we first encounter Dharama. The result is similar to a map, where longitudes and latitudes intersect at specific points. They are interdependent and the one cannot attain full significance are interdependent and the one cannot attain full significance without the others. There are really no grounds for without the others. There are really no grounds for disagreement; a square table, when observed from diverse vantage-points, offers dissimilar views; yet though dissimilar, they all related to the same table. The same may be said in respect to Mahayana and Theravada. Although they are dissimilar, both truthfully related the same teacher's teaching.
Buddhadahrma makes true reality of all existence in the universe comprehensible. The flux of life has no beginning and no end, as witnessed by all buddhas past, present and future in the ten directions. In our era, the teacher we learn from is Shakyamuni Buddha on whose ocean of enlightenment we have been drawing for over two thousand years. Today, his Dharma is known and practiced in the greater part of the world with some variations due to time, place and to personalities.
The history of early Buddhism sheds light on what motivated Buddhist practicioners then; since most adherents were concerned with their own salvation, the expedient teaching was what later became the Theravada. To this day, that tradition has remained dominant in India and in the countries of south-east Asia. The Buddha's teaching, however, contained not only the beginnings of Theravada, but of Mahayana as well. Some of those were subsequently reiterated by Manjusri, Maitreya and others who attained the Bodhi mind. The Tathagata was self-enlightened and he guided countless others to enlightenment by teaching them his method; the Venerable Mahakasyapa and Venerable Mahamaudgalyana were among them. When the World Honored One raised his hand holding a flower and Mahakasyapa smiled, the astonishing Dharma-transmission independent of words was initiated at that moment.
During the five hundred years immediately following the Buddha's final nirvana, two schools of Buddhadharma predominated, namely the Mahasanghika and Mahasthavira. Both adhered to the Âsmall' Vehicle (Theravada). The aspect of the Buddha's teaching subsequently formulated as the Great Vehicle or Mahayana remained latent and emerged gradually. Close to nine hundred years after the Buddha's Parinirvana, Bodhisattvas Nagarjuna, Asangha and Vasubandhu, assisted by their teachers Manjusri and Maitreya gave that part of the Buddha's teaching its present form. In India, the surviving remnants of Buddhadharma have ÂSmall' Vehicle for their bases; Mahayana sustras written in Sanskrit, discovered in northern India and Nepal, were damaged. Furthermore, no centers for the dissemination of Dharma were in existence there. The sutras made available to us by the school of Theravada were written in Pali and preserved for posterity in Ceylon (present Sri Lanka) during the reign of King Asoka in India. These sutras and commentaries serve as textual foundation for the Dharma centers in Burma and Thailand as well. Many Buddhists from North America and Europe travel to south-east Asia study Theravada Buddhism there.
The third major system of Buddhist thought has headquarters in Tibet. The lamaic "Red Sect" was established by means of "Born in Lotus Flower" Bodhisattva Mahasattva and somewhat later Tson-kha-pa founded the "Yellow Sect", developed and centralized chiefly in Mongolia. Because of the marked similarity between the Tibetan and the Sanskrit languages, many fundamental Mahayana sutras were preserved in Tibet; the esoteric school was transmitted directly from India; the sutra and sastra on nature and form, and the Mahayana Vinaya (rules of conduct) survived the ages in perfect condition there. Although the esoteric Dharma was taught in Tibetan, it was beneficial to numerous devotees through translations. Japan and Korea, on the other hand, acquired their Buddhist system from China where, by then, it has been established for seven hundred years. It was a very powerful source that carried Buddhadharma far and wide, and via Japan and Korea the propagation of the teachings spread even further. Chinese Buddhism developed along characteristically Chinese lines and its roots are in the Chinese culture, but it has taken more then seven hundred years of assimilation. Both the ÂSmall' and the Great Vehicles reached China due to scores of Buddhist monks who came from India by land from the West and via the maritime route from the South. The texts the monks brought with them were then translated from the original Pali or Sanskrit. Several heroic Chinese, namely Fa Hsien, Hsuen Tsang and I Chin journeyed to India in search of authentic textual Dharma and the materials they brought when they returned to China were meticulously translated and avidly studied. At the decline of the T'ang and the Sui Dynasties, both Mahayana and Theravada textual foundations were assimilated in China.
Since four of the Chinese Buddhist sects, namely the Dharma Nature, the Dharmalaksana of the great Vehicle, the Satyasiddhi, and Kosa of the Small Vehicle, were transmitted directly from India to China, both the Mahayana and the Thervada Vinayas or rules of conduct came along with them. Dharma in its completeness can be found in the teachings of the Tien T'ai sect and of the Hwa Yen sect. The Ch'an sect was initiated by Bodhidharma, a scholarly monk from India, who continued the line of teaching practiced by the Buddha himself, namely, attaining the ocean of enlightenment by pointing directly at the mind. That approach leads to the region of enlightenment without detour: It is the core of Buddhism generally and the marrow of Buddhism in China. The Pure Land sect continues to benefit numberless practitioners and in that respect it is second to none. For this reason it will be dealt with in greater detail in the chapters that follow. Although Buddhism in China may have appeared to flounder at times, it has never lost its vitality and structure. If more people would open their minds to the Buddha's teaching, the three major traditions might form a partnership and together propagate the enlightening practice.