Three Principals of the Path Root Textby Lama Tsong Khapa Below
is the Root text of the 'Three Principals of the Path' by Lama Tsong
Khapa, which is the basis for the following comentary by Venerable
Ribur Rinpoche at Root Institute, Bodhgaya. I will explain as best I can The essential import of all the Victor's Teachings, The path praised by all the holy Bodhisattyas. Best entrance for those fortunate ones who seek freedom. Listen with clear minds, you lucky people, Who aspire to the path that pleases Buddhas, Who work to give meaning to leisure and opportunity, Who are not addicted to the pleasures of cyclic life. Lust for existence chains all corporeal beings- Addiction to the pleasures of the life-cycle Is only cured by transcendent renunciation. So seek transcendence first of all! Leisure and opportunity are hard to get, And there is no time to life; keep thinking on this, And you will turn off your interest in this life! Contemplate the inexorability of evolutionary effects And the sufferings of life-over and over again- And you will turn off interest in future lives! By constant meditation, your mind will not entertain A moment's wish even for the successes of life, And you will aim for freedom all day and night- Then you experience transcendent renunciation! Transcendence without the spirit of enlightenment Cannot generate the supreme bliss Of unexcelled enlightenment-therefore, The Bodhisattva conceives the supreme spirit of enlightenment. Carried away on the currents of four mighty streams, Tightly bound by the near-inescapable chains of evolution, Trapped and imprisoned in the iron cage of self-concern, Totally wrapped in the darkness of mis-knowledge, Born and born again and again in endless life-cycles, Uninterruptedly tormented by the three miseries- Such is the state of all beings, all just your mothers- From your natural feelings, conceive the highest spirit! Even though you experience transcendent renunciation And cultivate the spirit of enlightenment, Without the wisdom from the realisation of emptiness, You cannot cut off the root of the life-cycle- So, you should strive to understand relativity. Who sees the inexorable causality of all things Both of cyclic life and liberation And destroys any sort of conviction of objectivity- Thereby enters the path pleasing to Victors. Appearance as inevitably relative, And emptiness as free of all assertions- As long as these are understood apart, The Victor's intent is not yet known. But, when they are simultaneous without alternation, The more sight of inevitable relativity Becomes sure knowledge rid of objective habit-patterns, And the investigation of authentic view is complete. Further, while appearance eliminates absolutism, Emptiness eliminates nihilism, And you know emptiness manifest as cause and effect- Then, you will not be deprived by extremist views. When you realise the essentials Of the three principles of the path, Rely on solitude and powerful efforts, And swiftly achieve the eternal goal, my son! Part one of the teaching...
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