37. Teaching the Aggregate of Morality

Overall Teaching

A bodhisattva should uphold the pure aggregate of morality, serve as a guardian of the Dharma, and practice the supreme samādhi to accumulate vast merit and wisdom, benefiting all beings. By doing so, they swiftly attain bodhi, guide others towards liberation, and protect the Dharma with unwavering resolve.

Summary

• The Buddha begins by explaining to Candraprabha that to attain buddhahood, a bodhisattva should abide by the pure aggregate of morality and regard all bodhisattvas as teachers. The bodhisattva who practices morality benefits others and swiftly attains the highest patience, becoming a Dharma King.

  • This is because by maintaining harmony and doing pleasant deeds, one can behold many buddhas and attain bodhi, free from doubts. Serving bhikṣus who uphold pure morality leads to the attainment of samādhi.

• While giving material goods brings merit, treasures as numerous as the sands of the Ganges are incomparable to the merit of upholding samādhi. Delighting in giving and practising without pause generates even more immeasurable merit.

  • Regarding the value of this Samādhi as a part of the aggregate of morality:

    • Hearing and upholding this Samādhi accumulates vast merit. This merit can extinguish the sufferings of the world and lead to the attainment of the wisdom of all buddhas.

    • Upholding this Samādhi is the foremost treasury, bringing extensive learning and the highest accumulation of merit. A bodhisattva who maintains this Samādhi is endowed with incredible wealth and considered a Dharma protector.

    • Teaching the quiescent Samādhi increases one's bodhi and attains innumerable merits. A Dharma teacher who abides by this Samādhi is stable like Mount Sumeru and cannot be moved by external doctrines.

    • The highest bodhi is attained by upholding this Samādhi and having faith in the teachings of the Tathāgata. This teaching is the foremost, bringing countless wholesome deeds and leading to the ultimate wisdom of all buddhas.

• Then, Maitreya praises the benefits of the Samādhi and encourages future bodhisattvas to take up, bear, read, and recite it. He further explains:

  • Wise ones uphold the Dharma and are guardians of merit and authoritative power. They can take up and bear the supreme Dharma-eye from all buddhas.

  • In times of greed and anger, beings become negligent. The supreme scriptures of true meaning are difficult to uphold in these times.

  • At that time, a bodhisattva who upholds it is adorned with morality, meditation, patience, and a wealth of hearing. Delighting in Dharma-wisdom and wearing the garment of shame and remorse.

  • Those bodhisattvas lead the world toward Buddha-bodhi. They tame their minds, train untrained beings, and realize liberation themselves.

  • Such bodhisattvas delight in giving the Dharma and practising generosity without jealousy. They provide necessities to impoverished beings, cultivating the path of fulfilled merit. They beat the drum of the great Dharma and remove doubts with their wisdom. They expose the supreme essential sūtra and possess supernormal powers. They expel ignorance and darkness, increasing wisdom and cultivating dhyāna and samādhi. They proclaim the quiescent supreme liberation.

    • Those who then hear and receive the Dharma enhance their merit. Skilled in words, they will come to rely on Dharma-illumination and benefit sentient beings. They become supreme Dharma-kings, upholding true awakening and turning the Dharma-wheel. Guide foolish beings away from perilous paths and alleviate suffering with great compassion.

  • In this way, such bodhisattvas construct the supreme Dharma-ship to rescue beings from saṃsāric afflictions. Teach the Noble Eightfold Path and establish beings in a place of fearlessness. They uphold mantras, are freed from suffering, and know the desires of sentient beings, and accordingly teach supreme teachings, crush contrary arguments, and exercise mastery over beings. In this way, they serve as a lamp, refuge, and comfort for beings, expounding true meaning. Establish beings in fearlessness and ultimate wisdom, ferrying them to the true path. 

  • They crush Māra’s powers, awaken to supreme bodhi, and journey through realms with supernormal powers. With pure eyes, behold guides of ten directions and roam freely.

  • Their unobstructed eloquence and praised virtues are inexhaustible. Those who hold this defilement-free Samādhi can act in remarkable ways.

Commentary

While the aggregate of morality (śīla-skandha) is often defined as the assemblage of precepts and moral conduct, this chapter shifts the focus to the Samādhi, by which it means this sūtra and the bodhisattva's attainment that it indicates. This is because it is the fundamental basis of wholesome action like patience and precepts, compassionate action, and guiding others to liberation. This chapter represents a shift in thinking about such matters as morality. We usually consider things from an outside–> perspective, but this chapter suggests morality is inside–>out: realise the essence of this Samādhi, and the rest follows.

Mañjuśrīkīrti's commentary clarifies that the aggregate of morality results in the attainment of merit and wisdom, and thus buddhahood. To do this effectively, note that the Samādhi is a more effective means for mastering the aggregate of morality than practising the giving of material wealth—it is both the treasury of Dharma and an ocean of hearing. The basis of the practice of the Samādhi, then, is, first of all, hearing it and having faith, as it is unchanging and leads to awakening. This is because the Samādhi is the very substance of buddhahood—it is awakening itself. This is why the sūtra text claims the Samādhi is the source of all sūtras, giving rise to more teachings than the breaths of all beings. This is because they go beyond words and Dharma assemblies. Since one thereby guides beings towards the Three Vehicles through realising the Samādhi, it is the highest form of generosity.

Thrangu Rinpoche's commentary suggests that the meaning of this section does not differ from earlier discussions on morality in the sūtra.

Discussion

How can we relate this chapter's definition of morality to the profound forms of bodhisattva conduct discussed earlier in the sūtra?