With the aim to compose an introduction (avatāra) to the Middle Way (madhyamaka) that may help one access (avatāra) the Middle Way Treatise, it seemed appropriate to present at first a praise to the illustrious lady Great Compassion, the perfect cause of buddhahood and characterised by being the complete protection for all the untold numbers of defenceless sentient beings without exception trapped in the prison of cyclic existence, even before praising the true and complete buddhas and the bodhisattvas. Hence, I expressed two stanzas, this and the following one:

From mighty sages hearers and half-buddhas come,
While buddhas from the bodhisattvas are conceived.
Compassion, non-duality, awakening mind –
These are what serve as causes of the victor’s heirs. (1.1)

The illustrious buddhas are here termed mighty sages (munīndra) because they possess perfect mastery as unsurpassed lords of Dharma, are also perfect supreme lords over the hearers, solitary buddhas and bodhisattvas, and because the hearers and so forth are governed by their command. From them the hearers and so forth come, meaning that they are born from them. How so? Due to the fact that, when buddhas appear and teach the unmistaken ways of dependent origination, they engage with that teaching through the stages of learning, contemplation and meditation, and according to their particular propensities will then actualise the final complete result of the hearers and so forth.

For some it may be that, although they do become erudite, realising the ultimate truth through just listening to the teachings on interdependent origination, they do not attain transcendence in their present existence. Although this might be the case, those who practice what is taught will without doubt attain it in a future lifetime when the result of their yearning ripens, in the same way that the ripening of karma will definitely come to fruition. As Āryadeva states:

When reality is understood, though here
They may not reach transcendence,
They will certainly attain it effortlessly
In another lifetime, just as with karma.¹

That is also why the Middle Way Treatise states:

When the complete buddhas do not appear
And the hearers as well are no more,
The wisdom of the solitary buddhas
Will be actualised independently.²

They are called hearers (śrāvaka) because they facilitate attainment of the result of the instructions: ‘It has been completed. After this I will not know another existence.’ Alternatively, they are hearers because they hear (śrutvā) about the supreme result or the path of unsurpassed true and complete awakening from the tathāgatas, and then proclaim (śrāvaṇatva) it to those who aspire to it. Just as the White Lotus of Sacred Dharma Sutra states:

Protector, today we have become hearers,
And will now proclaim supreme awakening.
We will clarify the awakening statements.
Thus we are like the formidable hearers.³

Although bodhisattvas also fit this description, the hearers proclaim it without actually practicing in accord with it, which is not the case for bodhisattvas.

The term buddha, awakened to reality, applies to all three: hearers, solitary buddhas and unsurpassed true and complete buddhas. Hence, the term buddha is here used to refer to solitary buddhas. These surpass the hearers due to their comparatively excellent development of merit and wisdom, but are inferior to the true and complete buddhas as they lack their accumulation of merit and wisdom, great compassion, two types of omniscience and so on. Hence, they are half-. They are solitary buddhas (pratyekabuddha) since they develop wisdom without being taught and gain awakening solely for themselves. As has been explained, the hearers and solitary buddhas are from mighty sages … come, in the sense that they originate from the tathāgatas teaching the Dharma.

From where then, are the mighty sages born? As stated, while buddhas from the bodhisattvas are conceived. But aren’t the bodhisattvas described as children of the victor because they too are born from the teachings of the tathāgatas? Why then is it said that that the illustrious buddhas are born from bodhisattvas? That is indeed true. Still, there are two reasons why the bodhisattvas are considered the cause for the illustrious buddhas: because they are the particular circumstance and because they inspire the adoption.

That they are the particular circumstance means that that which acts as the cause for the circumstance of being a tathāgata is the circumstance of being a bodhisattva. That they inspire the adoption refers to the case of noble Mañjuśrī who as a bodhisattva was the very first to inspire the illustrious Śākyamuni and the other tathāgatas to adopt the mind of awakening. Being thus regarded as the principal cause that enabled the final result, it is taught that the tathāgatas are born from the bodhisattvas.

Bodhisattvas are therefore to be esteemed, since it is recognised that they are the immensely valuable perfect cause; since expressing veneration for the cause automatically implies veneration also for the result; since the blessed buddhas teach that just as when a great medicinal tree that will definitely yield limitless fruits is still at the stage of a sprout and so on, and its leaves are tender, one must take care to protect it; and since the multitudes of sentient beings they encounter that have a predilection for the three vehicles will with certainty be impelled towards the Greater Vehicle.

As stated in the noble Heap of Jewels Sutra:

Kāśyapa, it is like when honour is shown to the new moon and not the full moon. Just so, Kāśyapa, should those who have faith in me pay homage to the bodhisattvas, not to the tathāgatas. Why? Because it is from bodhisattvas that the tathāgatas arise. And from the tathāgatas all the hearers and solitary buddhas arise.⁴

With this, it has been established through reasoning and scripture that the tathāgatas are born from the bodhisattvas.

What then is the cause of the bodhisattvas? As was stated: compassion, non-duality, awakening mind – these are what serve as causes of the victor’s heirs. Compassion means sympathy (anukampā), and its aspects and nature will be explained. Non-dual mind is the intelligence that is free from the two extremes of entities, absence of entities and so forth.

The awakening mind is described in the noble Omnipresent Dharmas Sutra:

Through the mind of awakening the bodhisattva will come to understand all dharmas: that all dharmas are equal in the dharmadhātu. All dharmas, being adventitious and unstable, are empty of something to be known and a knower. When within this mere recognition a bodhisattva gives rise to the sentiment of thinking that, ‘All beings must reach the recognition that this is the nature of things,’ that is what we call the awakening mind of the bodhisattva. It is the mind that aims for the benefit and happiness of all beings; that aims for the unsurpassed; a tender mind of love; an irreversible mind of compassion; a joyous mind that knows no regret; an equanimous mind without stains; an unchanging mind of emptiness; an unobscured mind not encumbered by labelling; a non-abiding mind free from aspirations.⁵

That the principal causes of the bodhisattvas are these three – compassion, non-dual intelligence and the mind of awakening – is expressed in the Precious Garland:

Its roots are the mind of awakening
Firm as the king of mountains,
Compassion without prejudice
And wisdom not tied to duality.⁶

Since compassion is the very root of the mind of awakening and wisdom of non-duality, the following was stated with the wish to illustrate the preeminence of compassion:

Since love is like the seed for the abundant crop
Of victorhood, is like the water for its growth,
Like maturation for its yield to then endure,
It’s therefore that I praise compassion first of all. (1.2)

Just as seeds, water and the process of ripening are the essential prerequisites in the beginning, middle and end respectively for a perfect harvest of grains and so forth on the outer level, it is compassion that is said to be the very prerequisite in the three periods for the perfect harvest of the victors. Likewise, when others are experiencing the suffering of suffering, a compassionate individual wanting to protect all suffering sentient beings without exception, will develop the firm resolve: ‘I must by all means deliver this world from suffering and bring it to the state of buddhahood.’ And since one will not be able to bring this commitment to fruition if one has discarded the wisdom of non-duality, it is essential to engage in it through the wisdom of non-duality. Thus, the seed of all the qualities of buddhahood is compassion. As stated in the Precious Garland:

What rational individual would disparage
The Greater Vehicle which teaches
Compassion as the prerequisite of all
And wisdom that is free from stains?⁷

Though the mind of awakening has been generated, if one has not repeatedly moistened it with the water of compassion, preparations for the vast fruition will not be accumulated, and one will inevitably transcend to the nirvana of hearers and solitary buddhas. And, although one may reach the state of the boundless fruition, without fully ripened compassion this will not become a lasting resource, and the unbroken one-to-one lineage of the great assembly of noble fruition will not flourish for long.

Now, to clarify the distinctive forms of compassion according to how they relate to particular objects, I wished to express this as an homage:

At first, the though of ‘I’ and clinging to a self;
Then ‘This is mine’ as they become attached to things.
I bow to that compassion which sees every life
As powerless as buckets on a water-wheel. (1.3)

In the world, self-clinging develops before the clinging of ownership, as one imputes the idea ‘it exists’ onto a non-existent self and ends up clinging to it as real. And then, with the thought, ‘This is mine,’ clinging to all other objects not included within this self-clinging comes.

The worldly state of clinging to self and mine is (1) to be tightly bound by the ropes of karma and afflictions; (2) to be reliant on the movements of consciousness, the operator of the machinery; (3) to be ceaselessly rambling through the depths of the great well of cyclic existence, from its peak to the Incessant hell; (4) to descend effortlessly of one’s own accord but having to be drawn up with great effort; (5) not to be following a fixed order of prior, latter and middling components when it comes to the torments (saṃkleśa) of afflictions, such as ignorance, of karma and of birth; and (6) to each day be battered by the suffering of suffering and the suffering of change – and hence to never transcend this water-wheel condition. Since the bodhisattva, motivated by immense compassion for those tormented by suffering, develops the wish to protect them, homage is offered to the illustrious lady great compassion before anything else. This is the compassion of the bodhisattvas that is focussed on sentient beings.

To illustrate what the compassion focussed on dharmas and without a focus relate to, it was stated:

Just like the moon reflected in a rippling pond,
They see them waver, empty of inherent being.

To this one should add the line, ‘I bow to such compassion.’ In a pool of limpid water slightly rippled by a mild breeze, the image of the moon keeps breaking up on the surface of what supports its reflection, and the combination of these two is visible as a clearly perceptible thing. The supreme ones see that these two facets illustrate the nature of things, namely moment-by-moment impermanence and absence of intrinsic nature. In the same way, bodhisattvas governed by compassion see that beings dwelling in the vast blue water of ignorance filling the ocean of the view of identity (satkāyadṛṣṭi) stirred by the winds of mistaken concepts, appearing in front of them as reflections of their individual karma, moment-by-moment encounter the suffering of impermanence and are empty of inherent existence. The bodhisattvas then develop the wish to help them fully attain the state of awakening, which is like the annihilator of the suffering of impermanence they undergo with respect to these two facts; which is a perfect source of the nectar of the sublime Dharma; which is characterised by a total reversal of all mistaken concepts; and is the true friend of all the world.⁸ Having bowed to their compassion focussed on sentient beings, focussed on dharmas and without a focus …

…, wishing then to speak of the ten divisions of the awakening mind of bodhisattvas, regarding the first mind of awakening:

The victor’s offspring filled with these compassionate thoughts
Will feel compelled to rescue each and every one. (1.4)
They dedicate just like Samantabhadra prayed,
Established on the Joyous which is called the first.

The various levels encompassed by the bodhisattvas’ compassion of undefiled wisdom receive the name grounds (bhūmi) since they are supports for qualities. We designate ten particular grounds with the names Joyous (pramudita) and so forth, not because there is any distinction with respect to their actual nature, but based on there being an increasing number of qualities, attainment of superior powers, advancement in the perfections such as generosity, and flourishing maturation. As stated:

Even the wise cannot express or see
The path a bird takes in the sky;
And likewise, the grounds of the victor heirs
Cannot be expressed, much less heard about.⁹

The bodhisattva ground Joyous is the initial resolve of the bodhisattvas, while the last and tenth resolve is Cloud of Dharma.

As explained, the mind of the bodhisattva is at this point seized by the special compassion which sees the lack of inherent nature of beings, and filled with these compassionate thoughts they dedicate just like Samantabhadra prayed. Thus it is given the name Joyous, indicating that this result has non-dual wisdom as its cause, and is considered the first. Generating the resolve for the first time, the bodhisattva makes ten innumerable hundred thousand aspirations, such as those expressed in the Ten Great Aspirations, and all of these are included within the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra’s Aspiration. In order to include every aspiration without omission, the Aspiration of Samantabhadra is here singled out.

Just as, in the vehicle of the hearers we designate eight types of hearers who have entered or abide in the result,¹⁰ in the Greater Vehicle as well we have the bodhisattvas’ ten bodhisattva grounds. And just as we do not consider that someone having reached the stage of propensity for definite separation¹¹ (nirvedhabhagīya) has reached the stage of entry into the first result, the same is true for the potential bodhisattvas. As taught in the Cloud of Jewels Sutra:

The state just before the attainment of the first ground, having the nature of magnificent aspirations aimed at great conduct, is a ground where the bodhisattva has not yet generated the mind of awakening.¹²

It continues, explaining about this instance of aspiring towards practice:

O son of good family. Take the example of a universal monarch, who though he transcends the ranks of humans, has not yet reached the ranks of gods. Just so, a bodhisattva can be completely beyond worldly people, hearers and solitary buddhas, without having reached the ultimate ground of the bodhisattva.¹³

As they enter Joyous, the first ground:

At present, signifying what they have attained,
The epithet of bodhisattva is now theirs. (1.5)

Having attained this mind they are in every respect beyond the level of ordinary beings, at this stage only referred to as bodhisattvas and nothing else, because they are now noble beings. As stated for instance in the Illustrious Lady in Two Thousand Five Hundred Lines:

Bodhisattva is an epithet for sattvas¹⁴ whose insight has awakened (anubuddha), who have gained realisation (buddha) and understanding (jñāna) of all dharmas. How do they understand them? As non-existent (abhūta), unproduced (asaṃbhūta) and incorrect (vitatha), and not the way immature ordinary beings conceive of them; not how immature ordinary beings ascertain them. Therefore they are called bodhisattvas, beings with awakened insight. How so? Awakening is not conceived. Awakening is not accomplished. Awakening is not ascertained. O Suvikrāntavikrāmin. The Tathāgata did not attain awakening, because no dharmas can be attained. Since no dharmas are ascertained it is called awakening (bodhi). Likewise, we say, ‘the awakening of Buddha’ – but that actually defies expression. If, Suvikrāntavikrāmin, when generating the mind of awakening they think, ‘We shall generate this mind of awakening’, and there is a sense of this awakening being an existent awakening towards which, ‘We generate this mind’, then they are not called bodhisattvas but generating sattvas (utpannasattva).¹⁵ Why? They are fixated on giving rise to it. They are focussed on this mind. They are determined to awaken.¹⁶

And likewise, among other things it is stated that:

Awakening is without characteristics; it is free from the nature of characteristics. The one for whom this realisation dawns awakens (bodhi) – but that actually defies expression. O Suvikrāntavikrāmin. Since the realisation of dharmas has dawned, they are called bodhisattvas. But for those, Suvikrāntavikrāmin, who have not understood these dharmas, who haven’t realised them but still consider themselves bodhisattvas, the grounds of the bodhisattvas are a long way off. They are far from the dharmas of bodhisattvas, and are deceiving the world of gods, humans and demigods by using the name bodhisattva. O Suvikrāntavikrāmin. If a word was all it took to be a bodhisattva, all sentient beings would be bodhisattvas. Thus, Suvikrāntavikrāmin, the grounds of the bodhisattva is more than just a term.¹⁷

And when gaining the mind of awakening thus described, not only are they solely referred to by the term bodhisattva, but also:

They’ve taken birth as kin of the tathāgatas;
Their fetters three have thus been utterly dispelled.
These bodhisattvas now endowed with utmost joy
Are able to make hundred world systems vibrate. (1.6)

The bodhisattva has taken birth as kin of the tathāgatas, since they now transcend all the levels of ordinary beings, hearers and solitary buddhas, and have begun to follow the path leading to the ground of the tathāgatas, Fully Illumined. Seeing at this point directly the lack of a personal self, their fetters three have thus been utterly dispelled – the view of identity, doubt and the thought that moral discipline and religious observance is the most excellent thing – since these will not now reappear. When one does not see the actual reality of things, one imputes a self, adopting the identity view; and one entertains doubt, considering the possibility of taking others paths. Not otherwise. Arriving at certainty¹⁸ (niścayapraveśa) they gain the accompanying qualities and are free from faults that conflict with the grounds. With that, an extraordinary sense of delight is born, and with this increasing joyous experience the most supreme joy becomes theirs. And it is because this exceptional joy rises up that this ground receives the name Joyous. They are able to shake a hundred world-systems.

As they’re progressing ever higher, ground to ground,
The paths to lower states have now been fully barred,
All ordinary states of being brought to close,
And they are now akin to the eighth noble one. (1.7)

As they gain familiarity with the Dharma thus realised, and are greatly inspired as they progress to the second ground and further, they are progressing ever higher, ground to ground. In short, just as noble stream-enterers are free from faults and gain qualities when realising the noble Dharma that agrees with them, the bodhisattvas realising the grounds gain the accompanying qualities and eliminate faults. The example of the stream-enterer is here employed to clarify this.

Concerning these bodhisattvas:

Though just the first taste of complete awakening,
In strength of merit they now conquer and surpass
The solitary buddhas and the Sage-speech born;

This presents a further distinction in line with the following statements found in the noble Liberation of Maitreya:

O son of good family. It is like the example of a prince, who immediately after birth carries the signs of royalty, and by virtue of his supreme hereditary rank surpasses everyone even among the senior and most important ministers. Just so, as soon as the novice bodhisattva has given rise to the mind of awakening he is born into the family of tathāgatas, the kings of Dharma, and through the power of his awakening mind and compassion surpasses the hearers and solitary buddhas who have long practiced pure conduct. … O son of good family. It is like the example of a fledgling of the mighty garuḍa that soon after birth possesses a powerful wing-thrust and an immaculate eye-sight that cannot be rivalled by any mature birds belonging to other species. Just so, when the mighty garuḍa youngling bodhisattva gives rise to the initial mind of awakening and is born into the family-lineage of the powerful sky-soaring garuḍa tathāgatas, the powerful wing-thrust of his courageous mind dedicated to the state of complete omniscience and his immaculate eye-sight of altruism cannot be matched by any of the hearers or solitary buddhas who have practiced renunciation for a hundred thousand aeons.¹⁹

Unrivalled in their insight too on Far Advanced. (1.8)

As stated in the noble Ten Grounds:

O victor-heirs. Take as example the prince who once born into the royal family holds royal characteristics. The status of royalty is such that his birth alone is enough to surpass the whole assembly of ministers, even though he does not do so in terms of analytical ability. But once he has come of age and developed his analytical abilities, he will completely surpass the ministers in every way. O victor-heirs. The same is the case for bodhisattvas. Once they have developed this resolve they surpass the hearers and solitary buddhas in terms of their altruistic determination, even though they do not do so in terms of analytical ability. But bodhisattvas dwelling on the seventh bodhisattva-ground completely surpass the hearers and solitary buddhas in every way due to the exalted nature of their wisdom’s range.²⁰

One should take this as saying that it is only once having reached Far Advanced that bodhisattvas surpass hearers and solitary buddhas also in terms of analytical ability. Those on the lower grounds do not.

This scriptural citation clearly states that hearers and solitary buddhas too understand the lack of intrinsic nature of all dharmas. If this was not the case, and they did not have the realisation of the absence of intrinsic nature of things, they would be surpassed in terms of analytical abilities by the bodhisattva with the initial resolve just as is the case for those free from worldly desires; just like non-Buddhists, they would not abandon all subtle propensities (anuśaya) that perpetuate the three realms, because of still mistakenly perceiving that forms and so forth have intrinsic nature; and they would not even realise the selflessness of the person, because imputation of a self relies on observing the aggregates.

As stated in the Precious Garland:

As long as one clings to the aggregates
There will be clinging to an ‘I’.
And with clinging to ‘I’ there is karma,
Which leads to birth.

This threefold path has no beginning, middle or end.
It revolves by virtue of these reciprocal causes
Just like a circle created by
The arc of a whirling firebrand.

But when it can’t be found to come from itself,
From others, or both at any point in the three times,
This self-clinging ceases,
And with it karma and birth.²¹

It continues:

Just like the eye is mistaken
When it perceives the firebrand’s arc,
The faculties too perceive
The objects of the present.

The faculties and the sense-objects
Are held to be of the nature of the five elements,
But since the individual elements are unreal,
These are also in fact unreal.

If the elements were held to be distinct,
It would follow that fire could burn without fuel.
If they merge they lose their defining characteristics.
The same conclusion applies to the other elements.

Since elements are unreal in either case,
Their combination too is unreal.
And since their combination is unreal,
Form is also in actual fact unreal.

Since in and of themselves, consciousness,
Feeling, perception and formation too
Are in every way unreal in terms self-nature,
They are ultimately unreal.

Just as one assumes that it is happiness
When suffering is removed,
And when happiness is prevented
One has the impression of suffering,

This lack of any intrinsic nature
Eliminates the thirst to find happiness
And the desire to be free from suffering –
Those who see this are therefore freed.

You may ask, ‘Who sees this?’
Conventionally, we say it’s the mind.
But without mental events there is no mind.
Being unreal, we do not assert that it exists.

When one gains a proper understanding
Of the unreality of beings,
There is no basis, nothing to adopt, one transcends,²²
Just like a fire that has run out of fuel.²³

One may ask, ‘Is it just the bodhisattvas who see this lack of intrinsic nature?’ It is not so, because these statements were made with respect to hearers and solitary buddhas. How can one deduce that? Because it is only after these statements that the bodhisattvas are spoken of, starting with:

The bodhisattva also sees this,
And is determined to reach awakening.
It is only because of his compassion
That he remains in existence until awakening.

And in the sutras that were taught to the hearers it is stated among other things that:

Form is like a mass of foam,
Feeling as a water-bubble,
Perception similar to a mirage,
Formations are like plantain trees,
Consciousness like an illusion –
Thus spoke The Sun’s Kinsman.²⁴

In this way, compounded phenomena (saṃskāra) are scrutinised by means of examples such as a mass of foam, water-bubbles, a mirage, the plantain tree’s trunk and an illusion.

Explaining exactly this point, the master said:

According to the Greater Vehicle,
Emptiness is non-arising; for the others it’s destruction.
But destruction and non-arising
Should in fact be considered the same.²⁵

Similarly:

In the Instructions to Kātyāyana
The Illustrious One refuted
Both existence and non-existence
Through his knowledge of entities and non-entities.²⁶

Some might think, ‘If the selflessness of dharmas is also taught in the vehicle of the hearers, then the teachings of the Greater Vehicle are redundant.’ Such a way of thinking is seen to contradict both reasoning and scripture. The teachings of the Greater Vehicle are not solely concerned with the selflessness of dharmas, but also with the bodhisattvas’ grounds, perfections, aspirations, great compassion and so forth, with dedication, the two accumulations and the inconceivable nature of reality (dharmatā).

As stated in the Precious Garland:

In the vehicle of the hearers there is no mention
Of the aspiration of the bodhisattva,
Nor of dedicating one’s activities –
How could one then become a bodhisattva?
…
In the sutras there is no mention
Of following the bodhisattva conduct.
But this is explained in the Greater Vehicle,
Which should therefore be accepted by the wise.²⁷

Also, as they clarify the selflessness of dharmas, there is good reason for the teachings of the Greater Vehicle, since this is taught there extensively. In the hearer vehicle the selflessness of dharmas receives only a very succinct treatment. As in the words of the master:

If featurelessness is not realised,
You taught there will be no liberation.
And thus, in the Greater Vehicle
You taught this exhaustively.²⁸

We will digress no further. Those whose minds are not very disturbed should be able to gain recognition of the actual reality through this by themselves, and we therefore continue with the general explanation.

To bring the realisation of full buddhahood,
The first which now is stressed is generosity.

Among the ten named generosity, moral discipline, tolerance, diligence, meditative absorption, intelligence, skilful means, aspirations, powers and wisdom, for the bodhisattva on the Joyous ground it is the perfection of generosity which is mainly emphasised; but this does not mean that the others are absent. Generosity is the initial cause of omniscience.

And when they even give their own flesh graciously,
From that one may infer what cannot be perceived. (1.9)

Although the qualities of the bodhisattva may not now be apparent, their realisation and so forth may be readily inferred through observing their extraordinary willingness to give away both external and internal possessions, just as for instance fire is inferred from smoke.

Just as the generosity of bodhisattvas is the initial cause of buddhahood and an indication of qualities that are not apparent, it is also said to alleviate the suffering of ordinary beings, hearers and solitary buddhas, and be the cause for the attainment of lasting happiness. In order to express this, it was said that:

All beings long for only happiness,
But people will not be content when poor.
And seeing that it is what fosters wealth
The Sage would first teach generosity. (1.10)

To the extent that remedies for hunger, thirst, sickness, cold and so forth alleviate suffering, they bring about worldly happiness. But as long as there is mistaken clinging to and concepts of a continuous identity, this is not a type of happiness free from distress, and one remains fully entangled within the world. Any happiness connected with this type of craving for happiness is by its very nature merely an alleviation of suffering, and it is the coveted resources that act as this suffering’s remedy; without such fundamentally mistaken resources it will not be experienced. Seeing how the objects that cause for the alleviation of suffering do not come about in the absence of an accumulation of merit connected with generosity, the Illustrious One, knowing perfectly the basic sentiment of every single being, gave the teachings on generosity as the very first, before all the teachings on moral discipline and so forth.