THE THREE PRINCIPLES OF THE PATH BY LAMA ZONG KHAPA... I bow down to the
venerable Spiritual Masters. I will explain, as well as I am able, the essence
of all the teachings of the Conqueror, the Path praised by the Conquerors and
their spiritual children, the entrance for the fortunate ones who desire liberation.
Listen with clear minds, you fortunate ones who direct your minds to the Path
pleasing to the Buddha and strive to make good use of leisure and opportunity
without being attached to the joys of cyclic existence. For you, embodied beings
bound by the craving for existence: without the pure determination to be free
from the ocean of existence, you cannot pacify the attractions to its pleasurable
effects. Thus from the outset, strive to generate the determination to be free.
By contemplating the leisure and endowments so difficult to find and the fleeting
nature of your life, reverse the clinging to this life. By repeatedly contemplating
the infallible effects of karma and the miseries of cyclic existence, reverse
the clinging to future lives. By contemplating in this way, do not generate
even for an instant the wish for the pleasures of cyclic existence. When you
have the mind aspiring for liberation day and night unceasingly, then you have
generated the determination to be free. However, if your determination to be
free is not sustained by the pure dedicated heart, it does not become the cause
for the perfect bliss of unsurpassed Enlightenment. Therefore, the intelligent
ones generate the supreme Enlightenment thought. Swept by the current of the
four power rivers, tied by the strong bonds of karma which are so hard to undo,
caught in the iron net of self-grasping egoism, completely enveloped by the
darkness of ignorance, born and reborn in boundless cyclic existence, unceasingly
tormented by the three miseries - by thinking of all mother sentient beings
in this condition, generate the supreme altruistic aspiration. Even if you meditate
upon the determination to be free and Bodhicitta, without the wisdom realizing
the ultimate nature, you cannot cut the root of samsara. Therefore, strive for
the means to realize dependent arising. One who sees the infallible cause and
effect of all phenomena in cyclic existence and beyond, and destroys all false
perceptions [of their inherent exist ence], has entered the Path which pleases
the Buddha. Appearances are infallible dependent arisings; emptiness is free
of assertions [of inherent existence or non-existence]. As long as these two
understandings are seen as
separate, one has not yet realized the intent of the Buddha. When these two
realizations are simultaneous and concurrent, from the mere sight of infallible
dependent arising, comes definite knowledge which completely destroys all modes
of mental grasping. At that time, the analysis of the profound view is complete.
In addition, appearances clear away the extreme of [inherent] existence; emptiness
clears away the extreme of non-existence. When you understand the arising of
cause and effect from the viewpoint of emptiness, you are not captivated by
either of the extreme views. In this way, when you have realized the exact points
of the three principal aspects of the path, by depending on solitude, generate
the power of joyous effort and quickly accomplish the final goal, my child!
- Dalai Lama