{"id":2536,"date":"2020-05-11T20:39:01","date_gmt":"2020-05-11T10:39:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/?page_id=2536"},"modified":"2020-05-11T20:42:13","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11T10:42:13","slug":"understanding-the-path","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/understanding-the-path\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding the Path"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tibetan masters have skillfully synthesized the teachings of the Buddha (as well as those of the great Indian Mahayana teachers) and presented them within a coherent framework that can be practiced by a single spiritual aspirant seeking to travel from the beginner\u2019s stage to the final awakening of the buddha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(1) Stages of the path (lamrim<\/em>) \u2013 Tsongkhapa\u2019s The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Three spiritual capacities are determined by the practitioner\u2019s motivation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a. Practitioners of the lowest capacity<\/em> pursue spiritual activities out of a desire for rebirth in the higher, happier realms in the next lifetime\u2014as a god (deva<\/em>) or at the very least in a good human family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

b. Medium-capacity<\/em> beings are driven by the wish to escape cyclic existence altogether and achieve nirvana\u2019s cessation of suffering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

c. Finally, beings with the highest capacity<\/em> strive not for their own welfare but for the happiness of all sentient beings\u2014that is, they have the motivation of a bodhisattva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(2) Stages of the doctrine (tenrim<\/em>) \u2013 Gampopa\u2019s Jewel Ornament of Liberation<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

a. \u200bThe motivating cause for attaining highest awakening: the buddha nature<\/em> (tath\u0101gatagarbha<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

b. \u200bThe corporeal basis for achieving awakening: the precious human existence<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

c. \u200bThe contributing condition that impels one to achieve it: the religious teacher<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

d. \u200bThe means for achieving it: the instructions of the religious teacher<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

e. \u200bThe fruit that is so achieved: the bodies (k\u0101ya) of buddhahood<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

f. \u200bThe enlightened activities<\/em> that follow the attainment of buddhahood, i.e., the spontaneous benefitting of living beings through buddha activities free from conceptual thought <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: Dolpa. Stages of the Buddha’s Teachings: Three Key Texts<\/em> (Library of Tibetan Classics Book 10). Wisdom Publications. Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"reddit\"<\/a>\"pinterest\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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