Navamala Hinaprajna Sutra

7/27/2019 Navamala Hinaprajna Sutra

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This file is the work of Stan Rosenthal. It has been placed here, withhis kind permission, by Bill Fear. The author has asked that no hardcopies, ie. paper copies, are made.

Stan Rosenthal may be contacted at 44 High street, St. Davids,Pembrokeshire, Dyfed, Wales, UK. Bill Fear may be contacted at 29Blackweir Terrace, Cathays, Cardiff, South Glamorgan, Wales, UK. [email protected]. Please use email as first method of contact, ifpossible. Messages can be sent to Stan Rosenthal via the above emailaddress - they will be forwarded on in person by myself.

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THE NAVAYANA SUTRA(ALSO KNOWN AS

THE NAVAMALA HINAPRAJNA SUTRA)

It happened that there was a certain man who existed at one time as awarrior, at another as a stallholder in the marketplace, at another as ahealer, and at yet another time as a teacher, a carrier of the lamp theBuddha lit. Whilst in his most recent samsara (incarnation) as a Ch'anpainter and scholar in the teachings of the Mahayana, he arrived at acity far distant from his home, to give a discourse on the compassionateteachings of the Buddha. According to an oracle he had consulted, hisown suffering was due to come to an end during his stay in that city, orsoon after.

This prediction, and the invitation to address the gathering, had givenhim a renewed good heart, for he had been much abused in thisincarnation, and of late had become very weary. Therefore, on his

arrival at the home of the healer who had invited him, the teacher wasin good spirit. But he was quickly saddened to see the sorrow upon thefaces of many of those who had come to hear him speak.

He spoke with them first to ask the cause of their suffering. Eachreplied in kind, that their sorrow was caused by others who had lied tothem, been deceitful, or otherwise acted towards them dishonestly.Discarding the text he had prepared, the teacher sat down and spoke tothem from his heart, drawing upon his own experiences, and upon theteachings he had received a quarter of a century before, from his firstteacher. These teachings were that if we believe that others lie to us,or abuse us, it is because we have listened only with our ears, and notwith our intellect or intuition, and that if we use these faculties,

rather than the mere sense organs of hearing, our suffering isalleviated.

As he spoke to the gathering, he realised that the people he addressedhad presented him with reflections of what had happened to him, and ashe found words to comfort them, so he heard the words he spoke, and washimself comforted.

Remaining in the city for a few more days, he found himself being warmlyand openly greeted by people he had never previously met. He knew that


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his manner of dress made his easily distinguishable from the inhabitantsof that city, but thought it strange that they should recognise him, andgreet him with such affection. Many of the people who thus greeted himhad heard his speak at the home of the healer, but he was greeted inthis way by three and four times their number, for word of what he hadsaid had spread around the city, and had given consolation to many morethan had attended the meeting he had addressed.

He became aware that he was in a state of grace, and this was made clearto him when two mercenary warriors who ridiculed and threatened him,retreated in embarrassment when Kashin, the Spirit of Blossoming, toldthem who he was. Two other auspicious omens were then presnted to him,which told him that by the time he left the city, he would have outgrownhis suffering. He was pleased, for he believed the omens might mean hewas preparing to leave his earthly existence, and perhaps enter Nirvana,most often described as the state of perfect bliss, which is beyondrebirth and beyond death. As he journeyed home, he began to make sucharrangements as were required for him to depart from his earthly lifewith the minimum of inconvience to others.

Upon his arrival home, a further three omens awaited him. The first wasa message from a Tibetan Buddhist nun, telling him she would call nextday to ask him to let her have a statue which was in his possession, sothat she might give it to the abbot of her monastery. The statue was of

Tara, the protector of those who travel spiritually on the path toenlightenment.

That night the second omen appeared, for he was visited by the'protector of wolves', known as a devourer of men. To his surprise, hewas unafraid, and he was right not to have feared her, for although hedid not know it, she is also the protector of children. She asked himwhat had happened in the distant city, and he told her of how he hadaddressed the people, and received the two omens there. She then askedhim if he thought this meant that he would soon enter Nirvana, and hetold her that he hoped this might be so. She then told him he waswrong, and that he would not depart.

He asked did she mean he was not yet ready. When she replied that shedid not mean this, he shook his head and told he she must be wrong,since those who are ready to enter Nirvana and do not do so are theBodhisattvas (those who postpone their entry to the state of perfectbliss in order to save others from their suffering). He pointed out tothe protector of wolves and children that he had been unable to savehimself. She replied by telling him that he had done so, and withoutrealising it, was now ready to become a Bodhisattva if only he wouldaccept the responsibility. He told her that he did not wish to do so,and was looking forward to the perfect bliss of Nirvana.

The next day he awaited the arrival of the nun, but she did not appear.However, a beautiful but frail girl came to visit him, and when he asked

her name, to her amazement she told him it was Tara. He spoke with her,and realized that in the form she now appeared to him, there was no wayby which she could know of the Buddhist legend. He asked her the reasonwhy she had come. Huge tears welled up in her eyes as she replied thatshe had come to him because she was suffering and needed his help.

The teacher knew the the protector of wolves and children had been rightin what she had said. But even more than this, he recalled one of theomens he had received when in the distant city where he had taught onlya few days previously, and how, with an 'unspoken truth' he had then


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been asked for help, and had given it without his even knowing it at thetime. The person he had helped, of noble class, had remarked upon hisspirituality, but he had denied being of spiritual kind.

Memories of what he had been taught many years before about the legendof Tara began to return to him. Then he recalled the legend in detail.It was that when the great bodhisattva Avalokitesvara was preparing toenter Nirvana, having attained his own enlightenment, he had heard acry. Turning to investigate its origin, he recognised it as an awesomecry for help. Retracing his footsteps he realised that it issued forthfrom the whole of suffering humankind. He was unable to leave until hecould take them, all those who suffered, with him, safely to that othershore, the shore of enlightenment, where pain and suffering are no more.A miracle had then occured, in which a tear of compassion fell from hiseye. Where it landed, it formed a lake, and from out of the water ofthe lake there appeared a lotus, which upon its opening, revealed theimmortal Tara, whose compassion is without end. Together, the twobodhisattvas work to relieve human suffering.

Full of shame at his lack of compassion, and lack of regard for thesuffering of others, the teacher vowed to stay with her, and to help heruntil her suffering was gone, so that she had no further need of him.She came to him each day, and by helping her, the teacher realised hehad no right to deny the strength of the spirituality within him. With

this acceptance, his spirituality increased, as did the skills which areneeded in helping others.

He remembered the words of the Buddha, who had said that by acceptanceof the true teaching, enlightenment could come, and our lives beginagain in days, rather than in months or years. Thus, when the nunreturned a few weeks later to ask would he part with the statue of Tara,he new that his work with the manifestation of that bodhisattva had cometo an end. And so it was that the next day when she arrived at hishome, she was able to say that she had been able to resolve her problemthe previous night, and would not be returning to ask for his help.

By this time the teacher had accepted his responsibilty, and in order

that others might benefit from what he had learnt, and thus be savedfrom their suffering, he had already began to write of what what he hadlearned through his study and through his experience, calling his textthe Navamala Hinaprajna Sutra.

10 Dearest brother, dearest sister,dearest son and dearest daughter, it is said that the lamp lit by theBuddha was to be used to light a myriad of lamps by those who followedhim,

So it is that we now have the teachings of the Buddha, the Bodhisattvasand the sages, for one lamp lights another, and the other lights the

next.

There is no-one who can say whether it is the same flame or the samelamp which still burns, but it is the same light, and we can use it tolight our our own lamp, for no-one can light the lamp for another...allwe can do is offer the lamp we have.

It was the wish of the Buddha, the Bodhisattvas and the Sages, that ourlives should be a time of blossoming, and that we should enjoy love,peace and the freedom to grow.


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In order that this might come to pass, they gave us their teachings.,which is to say, they offered us their lamp that we might light our own.

Listen well, for these things I have heard.......

The teachings of the Buddha are as the flowers in an eternal garden, forthey never fade, never wither and never die.

And just as the beauty of a garden can only be known by walking in thatgarden, so can the beauty of the teachings of the Buddha only be fullyknown to us through our experience of them.

To seek the teachings of the Buddha through our experience is to seekthe very nature of the Buddha.To seek the Buddha nature is to seek one's own inner nature.To find the Buddha nature is to find one's own inner nature.To find one's own inner nature is to begin to find the essence.To find the essence is to be enlightened.To be enlightened is to find and awaken the Buddha nature which iswithin each and every one of us, for

Within the heart of all sentient beings

dwells the Buddha nature.

To awaken the Buddha nature within oneself is to be liberated fromhatred and anger, envy and sorrow, delusion and melencholy, desire anddespair, and all the other shadows of our sentient mortality.

All mortal existence involves suffering:there is physical and mental suffering, there is the sufferingassociated with the fact that all material things are subject to theimmutable law of change, and there is that form pf suffering which isassociated with sense experience and consciousness.

Suffering is caused by desire or craving:

there is the desire for pleasure; to please the senses and the mind,there is the desire for continued existence, for the begining orcontinuation of something,and there is the desire for for the extinction or ending of something.

Suffering can be alleviated by liberating ourselves from desire andcraving.

We can be liberated from desire and craving by following the The MiddleWay, which, because it has eight elements, is known its followers as theEightfold Path.

The Eightfold Path consists of three major elements, which can then befurther divided into eight. The three major elements are:

Wisdom, which is called Prajna,Virtue, which is called Sila,and Meditation, which is called Samadhi.

Wisdom consists ofRight Mindednessand Right Thought or Resolve.

Virtue consists of


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Right Speech,Right Action,and Right Livelihood or Right Living.

Meditation consists ofRight Effort,Right Mindfulness or Right Attentiveness,and Right Concentration.

RightMindedness means understanding the Four Noble Truths,embracing the Eightfold Path,and liberating oneself from the Chain of Causal Delusion.This chain consists of those twelve things which form the most frequentcause of the shadow of continued suffering.

The Chain of Causal Delusion begins with ignorance, whichgives rise to the forms of karma.

These karma formations give rise to consciousness, which in turn createsperceptual images.These images relate the sensory organs to the mind, the association ofwhich creates contact.Contact gives rise to sensation, from which desire is created.Desire creates attachment, from which there comes becoming, and thenbeing.

Being is but one link in the chain or cycle of rebirth (samsura).It is from the continuance of this cycle that there arise the shodows ofour mortality, these being pain, decay, old age and death.

Right Thought or Right Resolve isthe willingness to follow the Noble Eightfold Path,and to reliquish anything which is contrary to that path.

Right Speech means to be restrained in speech.It is characterised by wisdom and compassion, and means that our speechshould not be motivated by prejudice, dogma, fear or anger,nor by self-indulgence or self-interest,nor by the desire to persuade or to compete for competition's sake.

Right Action or Right Behaviour is to cause no needless hurt norunneccessary harm;it is to practice compassion, honesty and sincerity;it is to be in control of one's thoughts and actions.Its is as essential to the attainment of enlightenment as is rightunderstanding and right resolve, so care must be taken to avoid bothself- indulgence and self-mortification.

Right Livelihood Right Vocation means thatwe should not not engage in that which involves either cruelty orinjustice, deceit or dishonesty, war, gambling or prostitution,nor those things which are asociated with them.

Whilst we might profit from our livelihood, it is wrong to make this themotive of one's vocation at the expense of others.

Right Effort or more specifically, Right Spiritual Effort, is to hold toone's spiritual ideals.

Right Mindfulness or Right Attentiveness results from the unity of theintellect and intuition.It enables us to perceive without unnecessary distinction, and toovercome the dichotomy of subject and object, of study and experience.


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It is to practice selfless detachment, benevolence, and compassion.

Right Meditation consists ofallowing the mind to become empty of all desire, thus enabling us toreach the stage of 'passive joy', which is such harmony or 'oneness' asis beyond even compassion, joy and peace.It is the state of Perfect Equanimity'.It is in Right Meditation or Dhyana that the Four Raptures, or Jnanas,may be found, for they are the Holy States.

The first is Compassion which arises with heightened awarenessand sensitivity to the essential feeling of oneness which meditationcreates.The second dhyana occurs where release from the external world and fromsensation is accomplished, allowing Joy to permiate the total being,The third dhyana is where Joy gives way to tranquility and Peace,and the fourth is that in which the state of Equanimity and PerfectBliss is attained.

When living in the world, know that there is a right way and awrong way to address oneself to others.

We should not set ourselves up as superior to others.Neither should we boast of our teachers, or what they teach,but neither should we be secretive, or act with stealth.

To those who question, and to those who wish to listen, speak of theseteachings,but to those who believe they already know, say nothing of theseteachings, for it is without profit to speak of such things to those whocannot hear.

There are signs or guiding posts which aid attainment ofBoddhisattvahood, the state in which we dwell when we postpone entry toNirvana in order to alleviate the suffering of others, so that we mighttake them from the storm ridden shore, to the other shore where peaceabides.

These signs are the Ten Virtues or Paramitas, possessed by all those whowould be Bodhisattvas. They are,Those who would be Bodisattvas are filled with charity

and goodwill.They are one with all sentient beings, from which arises

compassion.They have humility and patience, such as help the follower of the pathto bear its difficulties, and the common ills of life, so as to maintainserenity, even when the words, thoughts or acts of others are againstthem.They are possessed of vitality and perseverance with regard to theirattitude and disposition, and with regard to outward behaviour, and toinner states of mind.

They have great tranquility, leading to one-pointedness of mind withoutcompetitiveness, ego and desire, and without concern for criticism whichmight ensue from those who are jealous of their skill in doing goodworks.In them, wisdom and compassion are conjoined, together with the abilityto adapt, which one receives through right attentiveness and rightconcentration. They yeild without effort, becoming free channels forwisdom and compassion.They are 'far-going', not being disuaded from helping others.They are blessed witth immovability, being in a 'state of grace',


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developing transcendental powers through their enlightenment, thereforedesiring neither to leave or return to the world, nor to enter Nirvana,Identifying completely with highest perfect Wisdom, with no thought ofindividuation or integration, and no duality, but still retainingknowledge and memory of the world's suffering, they act with Wisdom andLove.

Identifying completely with the Great Truth of Suchness, theBodhisattvas know that of all things, it can only be said that 'it is asit is'. The Boddhisattvas are thus Tathagata itself (as it is). Theirlives are thus integrated with the lives of all sentient beings, andthey are able to go forth and sprinkle the rain of the Good Law, bywhich means the seeds of enlightenment might take root in the minds ofall sentient beings, and so bring them to Nirvana.

We know also that there is that which is physical. Know also that thereis that which is beyond the physical. Although it exists equally, itdoes so without physical manifestation, which is to say that it existswithout form. Because it exists without form, I will describe it asempty.

We know that there is form. Know also that form and emptiness are at ahigher level indistinguishable.We know that there is sensation. Know also that sensation and emptiness

are also indistinguishable.We know that there is thought. Know also that thought and emptiness areindistinguishable.We know that there is discrimination. Know also that discriminationemptiness are indistinguishable.We know that there is consciousness. Know also that consciousness andemptiness are indistinguishable.

At the heart of all the teachings is the knowledge that all things areemptiness, they are not born, they are not annihilated, they are nottainted, they are not immaculate, they do not increase, they do notdecrease, they are neither perfect nor imperfect. This is to say thatall things are as but finite aspects of the absolute, and are therefore

beyond sentient comprehension, for being based upon the senses, suchcomprehension is finite. The finite is limited, and that which isbeyond the physical, empty of physical form, is not. That is why I sayall things come from emptiness.

Therefore in emptiness there is no form, no sensation, no thought, nodiscrimination, no consciousness, no sense perception of any kind.There is therefore in emptiness, no knowledge, nor is their ignorance,nor any of the links in the chain of causal delusion.So it is that in that which I call emptiness, there is no old age, decayor death, nor the extinction of old age and death; there is nosuffering, no accumulation, no annihilation, no path; there is noknowledge, no attainment, and no realization, because there is nothing

to attain.

So it is that beyond the physical, there are no Four Noble Truths, nopain, no cause of pain, no cessation of pain, no Eightfold Path leadingto the cessation of pain. Neither is there the destruction of thenotion of decay and death. There is no knowledge of Nirvana, there isno obtaining of Nirvana, there is no not obtaining of Nirvana.

Why is there no obtaining of Nirvana? Because such an 'obtaining'is in the realm of 'no-thingness'.


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If what we are was an enduring entity, we could not attain Nirvana. Itis only because we are made up of elements which pass away, that we mayattain Nirvana.So long as we seek the highest perfect Wisdom, we are still abiding inthe realm of consciousness.If we are to realize Nirvana we must pass beyond that which isconsciousness of Nirvana. This is why I say that in emptiness, thestate of no-thingness, the state of 'it-is- as-it-isness, in the highestSamadhi or meditation, having transcended consciousness, we have passedbeyond discrimination and knowledge, beyond the reach of change or fear;so it is that in Samadhi, we are already enjoying Nirvana.

The perfect understanding of this and the patient acceptance of it isthe Highest Perfect Wisdom that is Prajnaparamita. All the Buddhas,Bodhisattvas and Sages of the past, present, and future, depending onthe Prajnaparamita, attain to the highest perfect enlightenment.

As the Great and Noble Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara said, in the wordswhich have brought solace to the multitudes from that time unto this,Each of us everyone should seek self-realization of Prajnaparamita, theTranscended and Unsurpassable Truth, the Truth that ends all pain, theTruth that is forever True. Oh Prajnaparamita, Oh Transcendent Truththat spans the troubled ocean of life and death, safely carry allseekers to the other shore of Enlightenment.

"Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate,Prajnaparamita, Bodhi, Svaha!"

"Gone, Gone, Gone to that other shore;safely passed to that other shore,Oh Prajnaparimata!So may it be for all."

In the passage of time, by practicing the Prajnaparamita, we mightfollow in the tradition of those other Bodhisattvas and Sages, holy menand laity, who have followed in this great lineage of teaching, and thus

give praise to the great Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, as have others, intheir own gatha,they have given their good and sound advice to those who would alsofollow the way of the Buddha, and thus achieve Tathagata. It is in thisway that the light of the lamp of the compassion of Bodhisattvahood iscarried forward, that it might be used by all.

It is only when the light of ignorance is blown out that the pure lightwhich is born of the lamp of Great Enlightenment bursts into flame. Andit is said of this light,The pure light is everywhere,

its brilliance fills the eyes.

How then, oh fellow seeker, oh fellow traveller upon the path, how thenmight we extinguinguish the candle of ignorance, and so allow the lightof the lamp of Great Enlightenment to light our path!In our dealings with others,

First learn to listen with each of the five senses, and then learnto listen with the sixth sense.Do not ask: Why did 'this' happen?, nor: Why did 'that' happen?, nor:Why did 'this' or 'that' not happen?Rather, learn to listen with the six senses, then learnto listen with the six senses and the spirit.


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Then the answer will appear before the question, and the question willdisappear.When the question disappears, so to does the desire for 'this' or'that'.When 'this' and 'that' disappear; when universals and particulars areforgotten, freedom emerges.

And when freedom emerges, the spirit will begin to discover itsmeaning.

To keep the spirit whole; do not allow it to founder.In order that the spirit does not founder, give yourself to what you dowith one heart.In order that the spirit does not degenerate, give yourself to what youdo with one heart.In order that the spirit does not begin to seek power, giveyourself to what you do with one heart.In order that the spirit does not begin to seek to destroy, giveyourself to what you do with one heart.In order that the spirit is not emptied of its meaning, give yourself towhat you do with one heart.To act with one heart is to give meaning to the spirit.

To give meaning to the spirit, and to allow it to make real its meaningand purpose, transcend the barriers to realization of your Buddha

Nature, and so pass through the gateless gates.Having transcended the barrier of time, transcend the barrier of thesenses,Having passed through the barrier of the senses, transcend the barrierof the object.When the barrier of the object is transcended, pass through that whichis the barrier of the mindful subject.Having passed through the barrier of the mindful subject, pass throughthe barrier of acceptance.When this is transcended, pass through that which prevents you fromseeing yourself.When you can see yourself, pass through the barriar of ego.When there is no longer ego, pass through the barrier of technique.

When technique is transcended, pass through the barrier which istechnique beyond technique, mind of no mind, the mind like runningwater.Having passed through these gateless gates, there is no subject and noobject, and thus, no distinction between subject and object.

Where there is no distinction between subject and object, there isneither subject nor object, only the creative act.

So it is that the new garland is composed of the flowers of the GreatWisdom of the Buddha, of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, of theBodhidharma, and of the other Bodhisattvas and Sages. May this garlandbe blessed. May it rest upon you, so that the winds of pleasure and

pain will not deter you from making real your Buddha Nature. It is ourwish that you will attain that peace and happiness which is Nirvana, andthat through your following of the Path, your life will be a Time ofBlossoming, so that you will be blessed with Love, Peace and the Freedomto Grow, and that you will 'pass safely to that other shore'.

Svaha............................End of file..............................

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Navamala Hinaprajna Sutra