Atisa’s Kadam Legacy

• February 13, 2016

Master Atiśa is perhaps revered most in Tibetan Buddhism for his genius in distilling the essence of the teachings of the Buddha into the framework of a single spiritual aspirant’s path. His Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, which was composed, as its colophon states, at the explicit request of the Ngari ruler Jangchup Ö, organizes the entire corpus of the Buddhist teachings into what he calls practices relevant to “persons of the three scopes” or “persons of three capacities”—initial, intermediate, and great. This revolutionary approach to understanding the heterogeneous literature of the Indian Buddhist sources enabled the Tibetans to appropriately contextualize and integrate the knowledge of these sources meaningfully within an individual’s meditative practice. Over time an entire genre of literature, collectively known as stages of the path or lamrim, evolved in Tibet on the basis of this seminal work by Atiśa. A key feature of the lamrim texts is their graduated approach to the path to enlightenment.

The second genre of literature that evolved in Tibet from Atiśa’s teachings is the cycle of mind-training or lojong texts, the most well known of which are Atiśa’s own Bodhisattva’s Jewel Garland, Langri Thangpa’s (1054-1123) Eight Verses on Mind Training, and the Seven-Point Mind Training, the latter being traditionally attributed to Chekawa (1101-75). The focal point of mind-training teachings is the cultivation of the awakening mind (bodhicitta), especially in the tradition of Śāntideva’s (eighth century) “equalizing and exchanging self and others.” This cultivation often employs the practice of tonglen, or “giving and receiving.” The heart of tonglen involves imaginatively “receiving” or taking upon oneself the suffering, unhappiness, and basic negative emotional and thought patterns of others, and “giving” or offering to others one’s own happiness, good fortune, and positive mental states. Unlike the stages of the path teachings, mind training emphasizes the use of pithy sayings and a direct approach when dealing with obstacles to the development of the awakening mind, the altruistic aspiration to attain full enlightenment for the benefit of all beings.

Perhaps the most intriguing set of teachings that traces its origin to Master Atiśa’s is the collection enshrined in two large volumes known together as the Book of Kadam, selections of which are translated in the present volume. This cycle of texts relates Atiśa’s special relationship with Dromtönpa and highlights many of the more mystical aspects of Atiśa’s legacy in Tibet, especially his veneration of Avalokiteśvara, the buddha of compassion, and his propitiation of goddess Tārā. Known as Atiśa and Dromtönpa’s “secret teachings,” this set of texts is centered on the choice of four meditation deities—(1) the Buddha as the teacher, (2) Avalokiteśvara as the deity of compassion, (3) Tārā as the goddess of enlightened actions, and (4) Acala as the protector guardian—and the three scriptural baskets of discipline, knowledge, and meditation. This particular set of teachings is significant because of the ways in which it creates shifts in focus from the source teachings. For example, with respect to the teacher, the focus of importance shifts from Master Atiśa to Dromtönpa; with respect to land, it shifts from India as the land of Dharma to Tibet as a place of special significance connected with Avalokiteśvara; and with regard to spiritual instructions, although the Kadam period heralded the systematic scholastic study of the great Indian Buddhist classics, the focus shifts from classical Indian scriptures and treatises to the master’s direct oral teachings, especially as revealed in mystic visionary states. There is a shift even in the style of language employed from classical composition to a more informal style, with greater use of vernacular Tibetan.

One intriguing issue in the history of the Kadam order is its disappearance. Although more research is needed to confirm this, it seems that by the end of sixteenth century, Kadam effectively ceased to be a distinct school. This may partly be due to the tremendous success of the custodians of Atiśa and Dromtönpa’s teachings, on account of which all the key elements of the Kadam teachings were incorporated into the teachings of other Tibetan schools. It may also be partly the result of the rapid growth of Tsongkhapa’s (1357-1419) Geluk school. Initially referred to as the Gandenpas after Ganden Monastery was founded by Tsongkhapa in 1409. Gelukpas were referred to also as the “new Kadampas.”

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*Excerpt from “Wisdom of the Kadam Masters”, translated and introduced by Thupten Jinpa, Wisdom Publications, Boston, 2013, page 10-12.

The Importance of Returning Lord Atisha’s Lineage to Indonesia: 1000 year Lord Atisha Coming to Swarnadwipa (1012-2012)

On this oppportunity, on the 10th anniversary of Kadam Choeling Indonesia, I would like to greet everybody. First of all, I would like to greet the membes of the Sangha. Among you there are Sangha members and also non Sangha members, so within one center there are different kinds of members. I also like to greet the all eight branches. Please receive my greetings to you all.

Back to the past, more than ten years ago, when I first met with someone who is now being called Gyenla or Suhu. At that time, he was a young man, a journalist, a person who intended to study the dharma very much and to put it into practice. Turns out that that was what exactly he did. He went through all kinds of obstacles to be able to learn the dharma. He even went to India to pursue his goals. In India he received many teachings and then practicing those teachings. So, basically, the young man I first met is quite different with the person he is now, who has changed a lot. He is now a Gyenla and has been ordained, a person who has provided an access of the dharma to many people and has done a great deal of effort in order to fulfill this goal.

On this opportunity I would like to thank Gyenla, who has provided access for many people to gain the Dharma teachings, whether the Buddha’s teachings in general or the teachings of Lord Atisha, whereby the core of these teachings is the Lamrim or noteable the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment for the Three Types of Beings.

Many people have now gained access to the teachings of the Buddha, but it’s not enough just to learn about them. I encourage you hardly to try to practice as much and as well as you can, all that you have learned or in the process of learning, so you can become people who are not only have integrated the Buddha Dharma in themselves, and therefore benefited from the teachings personally, but also then become people who are able to share the Buddhist teachings with others, to spread the dharma with others. Each and every one of you can become people who hold the dharma within them and therefore are in the position to really spread it, to share to many other people around you as many as possible. So that a large number of people can benefit from what you have benefited from as well. In other words, if you put into practice what you are learning in the Buddha’s teachings, in other words, become a real practitioner, you then be able to share what you have practiced yourself with others and help many other living beings as well.

The centre is growing and growing fastly and it is a result of the work of many people. In this way, the study and practice of the dharma have become possible for more and more people and it is an excellent thing. Also, it has been an increase in the number of the member of the Sangha. Every year there has been more and more people are ordained, who are taking ordination, and this is also extremely important to fulfill my hope for Indonesia. Of course you know, in the past, Buddha dharma in its complete form, has spread broadly throughout Indonesia but due to various circumstances these teachings then declined.

In the past, in Indonesia, the dharma and teachings and the doctrines were widespread. The practice in terms of the three higher instructions: moral discipline, concentration, and wisdom; were very extensive. Also the complete practice of all four classes of the Tantra, i.e. the Buddhist Tantra was widely spread in Indonesia, but due to certain circumstances, they have declined. The reason why we know that this is the case in Indonesia in the past is that whenever someone dig into the ground, practically will be discovered archaeological sites and traces of Buddhism, like statue, various tantric deities and other statue as well, that are found in the ground. From these, we know that the history of Buddhism in Indonesia and in that time the Buddhism has declined in Indonesia.

In more recent time, it has begun to return to this country, thanks to the various lineages that have come from various Buddhist countries, starting from Thailand, which brings the practice of Vinaya and noteably, the Abhidharma; and also the teachings coming from Burma, and also from China as well. For example, there are practices of Tantra which comes from China as well, such as the Kriya Tantra. And in more recent times, through the contact with the Tibetans, there has been a re-introduction to the practices of the other classes of Tantra, including the practice of the highest yoga tantra. All this is a sign of the flourishing of the merit of the Indonesian people and without that merit, they will have have access to the teachings, that is for sure.

Personally, I think it is extremely important that the lineage that has come from Lord Atisha should continue to be transmitted to Indonesia. The reason for this, I would like to explain to you now.

The reason why I feel it is so important, that especially the lineage that has come from Lord Atisha should be transmitted once again to Indonesia is that essentially that lineage came from Indonesia, originated from Indonesia. In other words, the lineage of Lord Atisha came from Indonesia, the lineage that he transmitted to the Tibetan people, it came from Indonesia, and therefore it seems to me, all the more logical and right that it should come back to Indonesia. This also with reference to the Stages of the Path of the three types of beings, in other words the teachings of the Lamp of The Path, and of course also the teachings and lineage of the 4 classes of Tantra. I sincerely hope that this will be, so that it is does happen, I really encourage you to make as much effort as you can, to receive transmission and to receive teachings, and to practice them as well as you can. And then, having mastered them, to share them with your fellow countrymen.

My insisting on the reintroducing the lineage of the teachings of Lord Atisha, particularly to Indonesia, is that you obviously have a close connection with that teaching. That is a good reason for it. Furthermore, the aim is to facillitate the practice and teachings in your country. The idea I have in mind is that it is not limited to just Indonesia, in the sense that what I really hope is that the dharma, having spread well in Indonesia, should then from there spread beyond Indonesia, because although there are many different views and ideas that people have in the world these days, but there are fewer and fewer people who admit the notion of life after death, that it is something that occurs after this life. As a result, people become more obssessed with matters of this life alone, are becoming more and more materialistic, seeking happiness of just this life, increasing their wealth and so forth. Of course that is all very well but it’s not possible for anyone to find happiness by means of just material things. What this means therefore is that there will be an increasing, and there is an increasing number of unhappiness in the world, and this is something we can understand and we can see that the tendency of unhappiness are increasing in the world. So what I sincerely hope is that Indonesia should become a country in which the Buddha dharma can spread more and more in itself, but also from there, it has become strong, to other countries. To buddhist countries, to countries where Buddhism has spread in the past, or declined, or even to the countries where it has never been spread.

Again, it is my sincere wish that you should work toward this goal, that has just been described, that you may work towards increasing your own practice and then putting yourself therefore in better position to help others. I will pray for you but you on your side also need to put effort toward that goal. I sincerly ask you to do so, encourage you to do so, so that when you can achieve it on yourself, you can also help as much as other people around you. You therefore can achieve your own happiness, and then eventually achieve the ultimate goal that we are all seeking. Terima kasih.