The First Chapter of the commentary on THE GREAT PERFECTION: THE NATURE OF MIND, THE EASER OF WEARINESS[1] called the Great Chariot
In Sanskrit the title is Mahasandhi citta visranta vrtti maharatha nama, In Tibetan Rdzogs pa chen po/ sems nyid ngal gso'i/ shing rta chen po/ shes bya ba
I prostrate to glorious Samantabhadra
From the ocean of the glorious two accumulations come clouds that bear the abundant rain of peace and happiness.
These are the hundreds of qualities of the Nature that constitute the beauties of trikaya.
The thunder of wisdom and kindness pervading the limits of space, the great drum of Bhrama, sounds.
To the all-knowing Chief of Beings, to the Dharma, and Sangha, the leaders of beings, I bow.
On an island in the lake of Uddiyana,
Born within the blossom on a lotus stalk,
Spontaneous emanation of the victorious ones,
Blazing with qualities of the major and minor marks,
Padmasambhava protects the lotus of my mind.
O primordial, spotless, full ocean; you who emanate samsara and nirvana
O non-dual, unborn, full nature; perfect essence of Buddha, you the natural state,
O fullness with no existence or lack of it, views that things are eternal or nothing, coming or going, nor object of complex variety.
O fullness with no conception of good or evil, you who neither accept or reject.
I bow to the uncompounded nature of the mind.
This is the unsurpassable city of joyous liberation. Here the Victorious Ones of the three times attained supreme peace. So that all beings may go there directly, it embodies the heart of the sutras and tantras. Here, day and night, with unremitting effort, with single-minded devotion, my mind is absorbed in peace. May this Great Chariot of the profound path that liberates from samsara be clearly elucidated.
Of this explanation of the GREAT PERFECTION, THE NATURE OF MIND, THE EASER OF WEARINESS, The single path of all Dharmas and traditions, there are three main sections:
First, the manner of entering on the composition of the treatise and the meaning of the introductory section,
Second, the extensive explanation of the main subject of the text,
Third, the conclusion.
The divisions are
First, the meaning of the homage
Second, The vow to compose the text.
The Buddha has come into this world. The excellent speech of his teachings, holy Dharma, by the kindness of genuine beings remains in existence. Here are the details of how the ocean of the sutra and mantra vehicles may be practiced by a single individual Now that the freedoms and good favors, so difficult to attain, have been attained. In that way oneself and others may completely cross the ocean of sufferings of samsara. How mind,[2] wearied in samsara, eases its weariness in the land of peace is taught fully and without error.
This goes from how the beginner enters and begins, up to how the fruition of buddhahood manifests as the completed and perfect meaning of all the vehicles.
Wishing to compose the thirteen chapters of this treatise, the Great Perfection, the Nature of Mind, the Easer of Weariness, first I offer a short homage:
The primordial lord; the great, full ocean[3] of buddha qualities;
Whose natural wisdom and kindness is limitless in its depth,
Birthplace of the Victorious Ones and all their sons,
Who emanates heaped up clouds of goodness and benefit,
I prostrate to the one who is all that is desired.
Thus I call on him. This lord is the manifestation of enlightenment, whose place is in the primordial ground. This is the teacher, the Buddha Bhagavat. Having the nature of the great full ocean of qualities of renunciation and realization, he rules the sphere of inexhaustible adornments of body, speech, and mind. All the depth and expanse of supreme understanding and wondrously arisen compassion are just this. This saying is incomprehensible to the mind that sees only the manifestations of the I of "this side."
By earnestly practicing the Dharma taught here, mind becomes the source of the jewel of the buddhas of the three times and their sons. Then for all the realms of sentient beings, as limitless as the sky, there are temporary benefits in accord with the happiness of each. Gods and human beings alike are brought to happiness.
The ultimate happiness is being brought to whichever of the three enlightenments of the shravakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas is in accord with the good fortune of one's powers. The holy masters join us to supremely ultimate great enlightenment, omniscient buddhahood. Therefore, I prostrate to glorious Samantabhadra and so forth, all the victorious ones and their sons throughout the ten directions and the three times.
As for the ocean of buddha qualities of this primordial lord. The glorious Net of Illusion says:
The lord is timeless perfection, known as buddhahood.
This is the precious ocean of Buddha qualities.
These precious jewels also arise within the connections of cause and effect. The Uttaratantra says:
From the Buddha comes the Dharma; From the Dharma comes the assembly of the Noble Ones.
Regarding emanation of heaped up clouds of goodness and benefit for sentient beings, the Mahayanasutralankara says:
They have compassionate kindness for every sentient being.
They have the kind of vision we do not need to seek.
They have the kind of vision that is inseparable.
I prostrate to you with the vision of goodness and happiness.
We should prostrate, because there are such great benefits for both ourselves and others. Since our bodies are of this excellent kind, if we briefly praise the good fortune of words and meaning, we realize that all this is holy. If we undertake this holy activity who stay with it, we cannot but reach the goal. The Great Commentary on the Prajnaparamita in 8000 Lines says:
Those who have the kindness of benefit for others
For the sake of living beings, do not relax their powers.
Though these holy beings bear a heavy burden,
They never put it down and dwell in discouragement.
This needs to be attained by others as well. When the teacher and shastra are understood in the highest way, there is devotion. Nagarjuna says:
It is never fruitless, when the authors of the treatises
Express their homage to the teacher and the teaching;[4]
Because of doing so they make us feel inspired.[5]
As for saying that both kinds of benefit must be attained, by perfecting the accumulations the goal of ripening will be accomplished. The Sutra of Vast Play says:
The wishes of those with merit will surely be accomplished.
The Sutra Producing many Buddhas:
Whoever for the Conqueror as a leader,
Does even a little bit of activity,
Having gone to various celestial realms,
Will attain the level of buddhahood.
Second, the vow to compose the text:
Here why homage is made:
Luminous dharmakaya, immaculate realm of the conquerors!
For us who wander here in samsara, by ignorant grasping,
Amidst this realm of grief of karma and the kleshas,
Today may our weariness come to rest in the nature of mind.
The nature of mind is primordial luminosity, the essence of the buddha realm. It is beyond the four extremes of existence, non-existence, eternalism, and nihilism. It primordially pervades all sentient beings. The Uttaratantra says:
When by the luminous nature of the mind
It has been seen that kleshas are essenceless,
After it has been realized that all beings
Are completely pure of the four extremes,
All will dwell within perfect buddhahood,
Possessing the mind that has no obscuration.
Beings completely purified will possess
the limitless vision of the perceiver, wisdom.
Therefore, to that nature I pay homage.
Though primordially pure wisdom exists within us, by not recognizing it, we wander here in samsara. This karma of ignorance produces ego-grasping. By that in turn are produced passion, aggression, ignorance, pride, and envy. It is because of these five poisons or kleshas that we are whirling around here in samsara.
Why so? As various habitual patterns are superimposed on alaya, we enter into unhappiness. The least result is that by the karma of ignorance we are born as animals. The intermediate is that by the karma of seduction and desire we are born as pretas. The worst is that by the karma of aggression we are born in Hell.
Those who have pure merit, but also an equal amount of pride, are born as gods or human beings. Those who have equal parts of goodness and jealousy are born as asuras. Each of these has their own realm of existence, with its happiness, sorrow, and the states between them. They have their own sorts of good and evil behavior. So it is that we wander helplessly in this plain of the beginningless and endless sufferings of samsara, so difficult to cross. In vanity we grasp at an I or real self, which is like the seeming appearances of a dream. Though if we examine these well, they are non-existent, at this time of our confusion they appear to be really and truly existent. The Samadhiraja Sutra says:
The life of samsaric beings is like that in a dream.
Since this is so, no one is ever born or dies.
The Request of Bhrama says:
The beings of appearance are like those in a dream.
By their personal karma, they are bound as individuals.
They wander among samsara's many joys and sorrows.
Though their nature is suchness that is egoless
Still these unknowing children fixate I and ego,
And so samsara's torments are ever on the rise.
The sentient beings of samsara are held in various kinds of bondage. Though all dharmas are egoless, fixators of ego excluded themselves off from the eye of liberation, and have to be taught their own true essence.
How? When they know that this is their path, it is improper for them to concern themselves with the goal of peace alone. As all beings wander here in beginningless samsara, there is not even one has not been our father and our mother. So to reject them and liberate ourselves alone is not the proper way. The Teacher's Letter says:
Our kinsmen who are carried in the ocean of samsara
Seem to have tumbled down into a great abyss
If we have rejected these, who do not know what they are,
Because of the process of birth and death and transmigration,
If we produce liberation for ourselves alone,
They will never be liberated from their karma.
Thinking about that, and seeing the weariness of sentient beings, exhausted by the burden of their long wandering here in samsara, I wanted to compose a treatise giving the instructions of how we can ease this weariness by coming to the resting place ornamented by the wondrous wealth of the Victorious Ones, the level of great nirvana. I wanted to illuminate how by immeasurably abundant compassion, we can guide those wandering in samsara. The Avatamsaka Sutra says:
Kye! O son of noble family, when we see the realm of sentient beings, all undertakings of body, speech, and mind become the immeasurable great compassion. We work with the worldly sciences and those beyond the world that have come from the heads of the noble ones. Having been inspired to the good, we perform once more the buddha avtivity of the former Victorious Ones. Let us offer to the Tathagata. Let us raise the victory banner of Dharma. Let us introduce the great path of liberation. O Holy beings! O precious crest-ornament!
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Maggia