A Lamp for the Path and Commentary

240 Pages·1983·10.932 MB·English

by  Richard Sherburne

A Lamp for the Path
and
Com.m.entary
of
ATISA
Translated and Annotated by
Richard Sherburne, S.J.
FOREWORD BY HIS HOLINESS TENZIN GYATSO,
THE FOURTEENTH DALAI LAMA
London
GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD
Boston Sydney
©Richard Sherburne, S.J., 1983
This book is copyright under the Berne Convention. No reproduction
without permission. All rights reserved.
George Allen & Unwin (Publishers) Ltd
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First published in 1983
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Atisa
Lamp for the path and commentary.
I. Lamaist doctrines-Early works to 1800
I. Title II. Sherburne, Richard
294.3'4 BQ7950.A874
ISBN 0-04-294124-5
ISBN 0-04-294129-6 (pbk)
Set in 11 on 12 point Times by Bedford Typesetters Ltd
and printed in Great Britain
by Billing and Sons Ltd, London and Worcester
To my lama and kalyanamitra, Tulku Kunga Labrang,
the Dezhung Rinpoche:
for his patient guidance and tutelage;
To my mentor, Turrell V. Wylie:
for his continual scholarly insistence;
To my colleague and collaborator,
Nancy Moore Gettelman:
for her unfailing trust and spirited encouragement;
To my reader and editor, Gerald Yorke:
for priceless and valued help in the English language.
For all their wise assistance and kind friendship,
I could barter only my own ignorance and this result.
-Richard Sherburne, S.J.
Seattle University
Spring, 1983

THE DALAl LAMA THEKCHEN CHOELING
McLEOD GANJ 176219
KANGRA DISTRICT
HIMACHAL PRADESH
Foreword
Atisa, the author of A Lamp For The Path To Enlightenment
(Bodhipathapradipa), is held in special regard by Tibetans. He
had a vision that he would not live so long if he left India and went
to Tibet. Nevertheless, this Indian saint and scholar made the
arduous journey across the Himalayas and travelled throughout
Tibet teaching and giving guidance in the full realisation that by
so doing he would shorten his life by many years. The place
where he died, not far from Lhasa, was and remains to this day an
important place of pilgrimage for Tibetans.
Atisa's life itself exemplifies the religious path taught by the
Buddha. He travelled far and wide to study with teachers who
could explain the practices from their own experience, and
having learned the importance of altruism directed. towards all
living beings, strove to transform himself into an embodiment of
love and compassion. He recognised the importance of ethical
conduct, meditative stabilisation and wisdom and practised all
three. Before coming to Tibet he was accepted in his own land as
foremost authority on discipline, meditation and Buddhist
philosophy. Like other great and kind Indian masters who taught
Buddhism to Tibetans, he also gave due importance to Tantra.
Atisa taught that Buddha's message was primarily a method
to relieve the suffering of living beings. He sought to heal the
division which threatened the spread of Buddhism in Tibet by
emphasising the central Buddhist teachings and by showing
clearly that each teaching was relevant at the appropriate time
and for the appropriate person. He stressed the value in all
branches of the Buddha's teaching.
This book, which was written by Atisa with special needs of his
Tibetan disciples in mind, is the prototype of the stages of the
V111 A LAMP FOR THE PATH AND COMMENTARY
(Lam rim) literature which reached its full bloom amongst later
Tibetan teachers and scholars. It presents the important
practices in a concise and easily understandable manner and
orders them in terms of the development and ability of the mind.
Such practices as these are timeless and of benefit to all. Just as
we Tibetans have benefited greatly from them through the
centuries, I hope those in other countries will find here a method
to attain the lasting peace they desire. The translation of the text
into English here by the noted Christian scholar, Richard
Sherburne, S.J., illustrates cooperation between religions that
enhances mutual understanding and draws the world together in
recognition of the common goal of bettering humankind.
July 14, 1982
Contents
Page
Foreword vii
Introduction x
Abbreviations xiv
A Lamp for the Enlightenment Path [Poem] 1
Commentary on the Lamp for the Path Stanzas
DEDICATION AND THEME 1-6 15
Vehicle of the Perfections
Part One: Higher Conduct
CHAPTER 1 THE TRIPLE REFUGE 7-9 23
CHAPTER2 THEENLIGHTENMENTTHOUGHT 10-19 41
CHAPTER3 THEMONASTICLIFE 20-21 65
CHAPTER4 THE BODHISATTVA VOW 22-33 87
Part Two: Higher Meditation
CHAPTER 5 THE SUPERKNOWLEDGES 34-40 113
Part Three: Higher Insight
CHAPTER 6 INSIGHT AND MEANS 41-59 129
Vehicle of Mysticism
CHAPTER 7 TANTRA 60-67 165
COLOPHONS 68 181
Appendices
Chart I: The Five Paths 190
Chart II: Tantric Initiations 191
Glossary 192
Bibliography 204
Index 221
Introduction
The Lamp for the Enlightenment Path and its Commentary
are eleventh-century Buddhist texts which were written
at Tho-ling ("High-flying") Monastery in the central
Himalayas near Mount Kailas. Although little known to
"outsiders", these texts have been used and cherished by
the Buddhist communities within Tibet and inner Asia for
well over nine centuries. The monk who composed them
wrote originally in Sanskrit (now lost) while simultaneously
translating them into Tibetan, and they were included as
authentic commentary in the earliest canon of Mahayana
scripture.
The Lamp proved to be a unique model for a religious
literary style that received much attention and development
in Tibet: the concise but comprehensive manuals that show
the "steps of the path" (lam-rim, as the genre is called) and
are kept as lifelong guides for the spiritual endeavour. Both
beginner and adept find a map for the Path in the poem,
which was to be memorised, while the Commentary
p:r:ovides the eminently practical explanation for further
reflection and study. The Lamp and its companion were a
new direction and emphasis for Tibetan Buddhist life
because they presented for the first time the harmonious
relationship between Buddhism's essential monastic basis
and the compassionate Bodhisattva's high ideal, flowering
in the true and necessary mystical experience of Tantra.
Compassion, Calm and Insight, Emptiness and Bliss
become key concepts because of the emphasis in these
texts, well supported not only by the authority of Siitra but
by the brilliance of Buddhist minds for centuries. The
fascination of so integrated a goal in the Lamp and
Comfnentary made them into the curriculum for training
and study in Tibet's first distinctive religious order, the
Bka'-gdams-pa ("Word-Instructed"). While the author
was not the Order's founder in actual fact, it was his
charisma and insight (and dying wish) that led his
immediate disciples to found the group of monks who now