Vajrayana Part 7

Roadmap to Enlightenment & Liberation

According to the scriptures (Tantras) - Vajrayana refer to 1 of the 3 Vehicles or Routes to Enlightenment.

Our starting-point is the sacred texts with their vision of a "higher truth and their deep insights" into the nature of "humanity and the universe" we inhabit.

Buddha said they are 4 types of People:

1) Those who pray for this life issues; basically 'worldly concerns'. eg. pray for family well being, children success in studies etc

2) Those who pray for better future; eg. better life now and in future.

3) Those who pray for Liberation; eg pray for Nibbana-liberation from cyclic existance.

4) Those who pray for Enlightenment; eg. attain liberation and be safe, liberation for oneself and other beings.

Basically there are these 4 types of attitudes. Buddha says only 3 of these qualities are true Dharma practitioners: pray for future life, liberation and Nibbana.  The prayers has more power than the #(1) stated above.  One should embarked on Dharma practice with these motivations.

The essence of Buddha's teachings can be summed up in  2 principles: the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. The first covers the side of doctrine, and the primary response it seeks is understanding; the second covers the side of discipline and the primary response it calls for is practice.

1) The Four Noble Truths is the basis of all the Buddha's teachings.  

a) the Truth of suffering (negative truths)

b) the Truth of the cause of suffering (negative truths)

c) the Truth of the cessation of suffering, which is nibbana, joy and peace (positive truths)

d) the Truth of the Way you get to this cessation (positive truths)

First, it has to set forth a full and accurate picture of the range of suffering; second it must present a correct analysis of the causes of suffering and third it must give us the means to eradicate the causes of suffering.  The Buddha said life is tied to some thing he calls dukkha. The (pali) word is translated as suffering but it means deeper than pain and misery.  It refers to a basic unsatisfactoriness running through our lives of all but the enlightened. Here, dukkha shows up in the events of birth, aging and death.  Our lives are strung out between the thirst for PLEASURE and the fear of PAIN.  Then in the end we have to die: to give up the identity we spent our whole life building, to leave behind everything and everyone we love.  Life ends in one place with one body, the mental consciousness springs up again elsewhere with a new body as its physical support.

The last of the Four Noble Truths, the truth of the Way is the Noble Eightfold Path, while the first factor of the Noble Eightfold Path, Right View is the understanding of the Four Noble Truths.

2) The  Noble EightFold Path: the practical discipline he prescribes to uproot and eliminate the deep underlying causes of suffering. The Path, the Fourth Noble Truth is capable of delivering the total result of cessation.  

The Eight Path factors divide into 3 groups the Moral discipline group:

1. Right Speech

2. Right Action

3. Right Livelihood

The second group the Concentration group:

4. Right Effort

5. Right Mindfulness

6. Right Concentration

The third is the Wisdom group:

7. Right View

8. Right Intention

These three groups represent 3 stages of training: the training in the higher moral discipline, the training of higher consciousness and the training in higher wisdom. Wisdom unfolds by the degree but even the flashes of insight presuppose as the basis a mind that has been concentrated, cleared of disturbances and distraction. With moral discipline as its foundation for concentration; concentration the foundation for wisdom; and wisdom the direct instrument for reaching liberation.

3 Types of  Suffering:

a) Suffering upon Suffering: experience before one suffering is over, we are subjected to another. eg. our father dies and then our mother dies soon afterwards. 

b) Suffering of Change - is the suffering that we feel when a state of happiness suddenly changes into suffering. eg one moment happy and the next moment an enemy steal our wealth.

c) Pervading Suffering - associated with the disliked;

- Separation from the liked

- Not getting what one's wanted.

What causes the suffering? The 6 Principles of Afflictions/ Defilements:

a) Anger

b) Attachment

c) Ignorance

d) Doubt

e) Wrong views

f) Pride/petty ego

These rob us of happiness. The work of removing these afflictions has to proceed in a methodical way.  By investigating how it lies within our power to remove their support.  This root is ignorance which hold them in place. Wisdom can be cultivated to replace ignorance.  It comes through a set of conditions which we have the power to develop.  These conditions are mental factors, components of consciousness which fits together into a structure called a path for movement leading to a goal. The goal here is the end of suffering and the path leading to it is the Noble Eightfold Path.