Overall Teaching

Arousing Bodhicitta, upholding morality, relying on true spiritual friends, and realising the emptiness of all dharmas lead to freedom from negligence and progress on the bodhisattva path. Ultimately, both individual awakening and the protection of the world are secured through ethical conduct and the practice of the True Dharma.

Summary

1. Vajrapāṇi's Request for a Teaching

   • Vajrapāṇi Bodhisattva requests the Bhagavān to teach the True Dharma to benefit both sentient beings and supernatural beings in the assembly. In response, the Bhagavān assures Vajrapāṇi Bodhisattva and the assembly that he will provide teachings that help them understand the principles of Dharma and practice virtuous deeds. He promises that the teachings will be of the highest quality, ensuring they don't miss out on the benefits of the good Dharma. Vajrapāṇi Bodhisattva and the entire assembly then listen attentively, with single-minded focus, to the forthcoming teachings.

2. The Buddha's Teaching for the Assembly

   • Arousing Bodhicitta

     • The Buddha discusses the importance of arousing Bodhicitta (the aspiration to attain bodhi). Those who do so gain faith, purity, and a desire to engage with noble beings and True Dharma. These individuals will be generous and accumulate merit, leading to a state of ease and detachment. They will also have clarity of mind, free from doubts and confusion, especially concerning the effects of good and evil karma.

   • Cultivating Morality

     • These bodhisattvas cultivate ten paths of wholesome conduct, uphold precepts with pure faith, and practice virtuous actions along with śramaṇas and brāhmaṇas. They learn and practice many virtuous teachings, achieve self-regulation through tranquillity, and use loving speech to subdue wrong views. They abstain from negative mental and verbal behavior such as elevating or denigrating others and maintain right mindfulness. They achieve a state of freedom from the limitations of the three realms, eliminate diseases and burdens, overcome doubts and mental disturbances, and renounce all forms of [saṃsāric] existence.

   • Associating with Good Friends and their Teachings

     • Individuals who practice the True Dharma earn respect and guidance from good and virtuous friends, including buddhas, śrāvakas, śramaṇas, and brāhmaṇas. These good friends teach the principles of cause and effect in various aspects of life, stressing the outcomes of skilful and unskilful actions in both the physical and mental domains. They also provide teachings on profound concepts like emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness, as well as dependent origination, detailing the chain of conditions leading to suffering. Teachings also cover the cessation of these conditions, thereby leading to the end of suffering according to the principles of dependent origination. The teachings emphasise that in the ultimate truth, no individual 'dharma' or doer can be identified, as all phenomena arise due to causes and conditions, discrediting the idea of a master or experiencer behind actions.

   • Not Having Doubt in the Explanation of the Dharma

     • Accepting the profound teachings of Dharma without doubt leads to understanding the nature of non- obstruction in all phenomena. Such understanding negates clinging to any sensory experiences or mental constructs, embracing the inherent emptiness and separateness of all things. A bodhisattva with this unwavering faith will continuously be in the presence of the Buddha, the Dharma, and the pure Saṅgha, regardless of where they are reborn. They will always be born during a buddha-age and will exhibit diligence in seeking the True Dharma.

   • Going forth from Home; Hearing, Practising, and Teaching the Dharma

     • The bodhisattva is diligent and decides to abandon worldly life, including family and pleasures, to follow the teachings of Buddha. Upon leaving home, he (or she, etc.) aligns himself with a good and virtuous friend to progress on the path of enlightenment. He sincerely practises the good Dharma he has heard, gains wisdom, and shares it with others without expecting any rewards. He fosters a compassionate mind in his students and himself remains unattached to worldly gains, focusing on the teachings. He continuously seeks the deeper meanings in the teachings and applies them universally for the benefit of all sentient beings.

   • Freedom from Negligence

     • Freedom from negligence involves non-attachment to sensory experiences and understanding the true nature of all material forms. One who is free from negligence also helps others to control their minds and alleviate their afflictions. Such a person aligns others towards the Dharma and away from unwholesome roots like greed, anger, and ignorance. Practicing freedom from negligence safeguards all one's good qualities and prevents them from diminishing. Having faith and understanding in freedom from negligence allows one to diligently cultivate merits and practice right mindfulness and knowledge without any loss.

   • Being and non-Being

     • Here, the Buddha juxtaposes "being" and "non-being."

       • Generally, "being" corresponds to right practice, action with consequences, conventional truth, and positive spiritual qualities like diligence. "Non-being" corresponds to wrong practice, non-retribution, ultimate truth, but also negative qualities like negligence. 

     • Conditions leading to states of existence are "being" and their absence are "non-being." Bodhisattvas should aim to understand both, and attain detachment, so that they can practice in both being and non-being regardless of which arises.

   • The Four Dharma Seals

     • Four Dharma seals taught by the Tathāgata: 

1. All conditioned things are impermanent: refutes ideas of permanence. Thus, cultivate knowledge of inconstancy. 

2. All conditioned things are suffering: refutes ideas of bliss. Thus, cultivate separation from desires. 

3. All conditioned things are without self: refutes ideas of self. Thus, know all characteristics are empty. 

4. Nirvāṇa is tranquillity: refutes pride of superiority. Thus, directly experience the signless. 

2. • • Bodhisattvas should deeply understand and cultivate these concepts for progress on the path of awakening.

3. The Buddha Teaches the Four Great Kings how to Protect the World

   • Four Great Kings ask the Buddha how to protect the world. The Buddha teaches Ten Good Dharmas for world protection:

1. Abstain from killing.

2. Be satisfied with wealth.

3. Do not defile another's home.

4. Do not disrupt others.

5. Avoid false words.

6. Speak the truth.

7. Speak without embellishment.

8. Do not covet others' prosperity.

9. End aversion.

10. Have pure right view.

• The Buddha teaches that there are also just Eight Good Dharmas by which the world is protected:

1. Act as you speak.

2. Respect teachers.

3. Follow the right path.

4. Be honest and sincere.

5. Be gentle and flexible.

6. Be compassionate.

7. Do not commit offences.

8. Accumulate wholesome roots.

• There can also just be six:

1. Kind actions.

2. Kind speech.

3. Kind thoughts.

4. Little grasping for benefits.

5. Practising pure precepts.

6. Respectful harmony in views.

• There can also just be two:

1. Have conscience.

2. Have shame of faults.

• One Final Dharma: Practice of the truth.

• Following these Dharmas enables not only self-protection but also helps others protect the world.