Philosophers : Je Tsong Khapa
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Je Tsong Khapa
Tibetan Thinker, Tibetan Buddhist
1357-1419
Born in Amdo eastern Tibet, Je Tsong Khapa (1357-1419) (the name means 'he
born in the onion (Tsong) place') is widely regarded in Tibet as a second
Buddha and the main teacher of the first Dalai Lama, Gendun Drub (1391-1474).
His name is almost a Buddhist joke, as onions are forbidden food to strict
followers.
He was an eminent scholar who reformed the old Kadampa sect, creating the new
Gelugpa sect (the Yellow Hats), which was to become the most powerful in the
entire region, eventually converting Mongolia and all other Himalayan
kingdoms to Tibetan Buddhism. He also founded in 1409 the massive Ganden
Monastic University, east of Lhasa, and one of the largest monasteries in the
entire Himalayan region with, at its height, many thousands of monks. It has
been in ruins since the excesses of the Cultural Revolution of the 1960's.
Since 1986 some of it has been restored. He also founded the two other big
Yellow Hat monasteries of central Tibet, Dre-pung in 1416, to the west of
Lhasa and Sera Je in 1419 to the north of the capital. Both have so far
survived Chinese rule more or less intact.
Taught from early childhood by numerous lamas of different traditions, Tsong
Khapa travelled widely in Tibet collecting teachings, lineages and
empowerments until he had thoroughly mastered all aspects of Buddhist logic
and practice. He is revered by Tibetans as an emanation of the Buddhist god
of wisdom, Manjushri. Just as William Blake had persistent visions of angels,
so Tsong Khapa is reported to have regularly seen and conversed with
Manjushri from an early age.
He wrote extensively on every aspect of Buddhism, his main work being 'The
Great Exposition of the Path of Secret Mantra' (Tib: Lam rim chen mo) which
'presents the main features of all the Buddhist tantra systems as well as the
difference between sutra and tantra, the two divisions of Buddha's word.'
(Tantra In Tibet , 1977, p8). It 'provided perhaps the clearest and most
inclusive analysis of the Buddhist path that had yet been written. His
voluminous commentaries on every imaginable topic...provided the largest and
most integrated corpus of scripture written by a Tibetan mind.' (Dowman,
1988, p31). His 'Three Principal Aspects of the Path', presented here, is a
highly compressed piece of writing which has attracted numerous commentaries
since it first appeared.
The Three Principal Aspects of the Path
by Je Tsong Kha pa
I will explain as well as I can
The essential meaning of all the Conqueror's scriptures,
The path praised by the excellent Conqueror children,
The port for the fortunate wishing liberation.
Whoever are not attached to the pleasures of mundane existence,
Whoever strive in order to make leisure and fortune worthwhile,
Whoever are inclined to the path pleasing the Conqueror Buddha,
Those fortunate ones should listen with a clear mind.
Without a complete thought definitely to leave cyclic existence
There is no way to stop seeking pleasurable effects in the ocean of
existence.
Also, craving cyclic existence thoroughly binds the embodied.
Therefore, in the beginning determination to leave cyclic existence should be
sought.
Leisure and fortune are difficult to find
And life has no duration.
Through familiarity with this,
Emphasis on the appearances of this life is reversed.
If you think again and again
About deeds and their inevitable effects
And the sufferings of cyclic existence,
The emphasis on the appearances
Of future lives will be reversed.
If, having meditated thus, you do not generate admiration
Even for an instant for the prosperity of cyclic existence,
And if an attitude seeking liberation arises day and night,
Then the thought definitely to leave cyclic existence has been generated.
Also, if this thought definitely to leave cyclic existence
Is not conjoined with generation of a complete aspiration to highest
enlightenment,
It does not become a cause of the marvellous bliss of unsurpassed
enlightenment.
Thus, the intelligent should generate the supreme altruistic intention to
become enlightened.
All ordinary beings are carried by the continuum of the four powerful
currents,
Are tied with the tight bonds of actions difficult to oppose,
Have entered into the iron cage of apprehending self (inherent existence),
Are completely beclouded with the thick darkness of ignorance,
Are born into cyclic existence limitlessly, and in their births
Are tortured ceaselessly by the three sufferings.
Thinking thus of the condition of mothers who have come to such a state,
Generate the supreme altruistic intention to become enlightened.
If you do not have the wisdom realising the way things are,
Even though you have developed the thought definitely to leave cyclic
existence
And the altruistic intention, the root of cyclic existence cannot be cut.
Therefore work at the means of realising dependent-arising.
Whoever, seeing the cause and effect of all phenomena
Of cyclic existence and nirvana infallible,
Thoroughly destroys the mode of misapprehension of those objects [as
inherently existent]
Has entered on a path that is pleasing to Buddha.
As long as the two, realisation of appearances -
the infallibility of dependent-arising - and the realisation of emptiness -
The non-assertion [of inherent existence] -
Seem to be separate, there is still no realisation
Of the thought of Shakyamuni Buddha.
When [the two realisations exist] simultaneously without alternation
And when from only seeing dependent-arising as infallible,
Definite knowledge entirely destroys the mode of apprehension
[of the conception of inherent existence],
then the analysis of the view [of reality] is complete.
Further, the extreme of [inherent] existence is excluded
[by knowledge of the nature] of appearances
[existing only as nominal designations],
And the extreme of [total] non-existence is excluded
[by knowledge of the nature] of emptiness
[as the complete absence of inherent existence and not the absence of nominal
existence].
If within emptiness the appearance of cause and effect is known
You will not be captivated by extreme views.
When you have realised thus just as they are
The essentials of the three principal aspects of the path,
Resort to solitude and generate the power of effort.
Accomplish quickly your final aim, my child.
[extracted from Kindness Clarity and Insight, Dalai Lama XIV, 1981, Snow
Lion, USA; translated by Jeffrey Hopkins, University of Virginia.]
SUMMARY
The 3 principal aspects of the path are:
the definite thought to leave cyclic existence and the abandonment of
pleasure;
the cultivation of an altruistic intention (strong compassion) by viewing
all beings as precious as our own mother;
the correct view of emptiness.
Tsong Khapa suggests that possessing one or two of these alone is not enough
- all three must be thoroughly and completely developed to create a true
Buddhist path.
KEY TERMS:
ALTRUISTIC INTENTION - desire to attain enlightenment in order solely to be
of help to others; the Bodhisattva ideal of the Mahayana school of Buddhism.
DEEDS AND THEIR EFFECTS - karma, the view that all our actions, thoughts and
words attract negative or positive seeds which remain with us, acting as
causes of future happiness or misery.
DEFINITE KNOWLEDGE - knowledge about how things are; realisations, correct
views; Buddhist wisdom, especially about the empty nature of all phenomena.
DEPENDENT ARISING - objects which arise dependent upon component parts or
upon other objects; ie. most things.
EMPTINESS - the quality which all things possess; they are empty of inherent
existence; their emptiness is the real solid and lasting nature we cannot
find in anything through sustained conceptual analysis; thus things are
viewed as being fundamentally empty of true existence; a view begun by
Buddha, but later elucidated in detail by the Indian sage Nagarjuna
(c100-c200 AD).
ENLIGHTENMENT - release from samsara and wrong views; attainment of
realisation, wisdom, etc
EXTREME VIEWS - the extreme philosophical positions of eternalism or nihilism
regarding the nature of mind.
FOUR POWERFUL CURRENTS - birth, aging, sickness and death.
INHERENT EXISTENCE - something which has inherent existence from its own side
and is not a dependent arising.
SAMSARA - cyclic existence - the physical world, the world we are repeatedly
born and reborn into.v
SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA, CONQUEROR - the historical Buddha, king of the Shakya
tribe, (c563-483BC).
SUTRA - a general term for all Buddhist texts, especially those which claim
to be the actual word of Buddha; as opposed to 'shastras' or Buddhist
commentaries.
TANTRA - a specific form of meditation manual for use in the tantric system
of Buddhism, almost exclusive to the Tibetan region; also called Secret
Mantra or Vajrayana - the 'diamond vehicle'; any one of a number of secret
Buddhist texts.
THREE SUFFERINGS - desire, hatred and delusion.
Sources:
Dowman, Keith, 1988, The Power-Places of Central Tibet, RKP, London & New
York
Gyatso, Tenzin, 1981, Kindness Clarity & Insight, Snow Lion, USA
Mullin, Glenn H, 1981, Selected Works of the Dalai Lama I, Snow Lion, USA
Mullin, Glenn H, 1982, Selected Works of the Dalai Lama VII, Snow Lion, USA
Tsong Khapa, 1977, Tantra In Tibet, Allen & Unwin, London
Tsong Khapa, 1980, Yoga Of Tibet, Allen & Unwin, London
Vessantara, 1993, Meeting the Buddhas, Windhorse, Glasgow
This page compiled by Peter Morrell, Jan 1997.
E-mail: pmorr1sc@stokecoll.ac.uk
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