there are three sections: a brief explanation of the first four paramitas and detailed explanations of concentration (dhyana) and of insight (prajna).
Generosity, the first of the six paramitas, which is the training for the bodhichitta of application, has three aspects. The first aspect is the giving of material things, such as food, clothing, wealth, material articles, and necessities, with the intention, object, and means that are free of the four impurities and with a pure attitude and application. The giving of fearlessness, or removing anxiety, protects others from disease, poisons, warfare, wildfire, flooding, vicious animals’ attacks, dangerous roads, and imprisonment. The giving of dharma, if you have the ability to teach the dharma, helps people understand the path through which they can reach liberation, without any regard for the giver’s honor, respect, gain, or fame. If you do not have that ability, you should simply read the words of the Buddha aloud, so they can be heard by both human beings and non-humans, meaning the spirits, and so forth.
Discipline, or shila, also has three aspects. The discipline of refraining from misdeeds refers to both intrinsic misdeeds, such as the ten non-virtues, and to pledged misdeeds, the vows you have accepted, including the seven types of pratimoksha vows, the two traditions of the bodhisattva vow, and the root and branch tantric samayas. The discipline of gathering virtuous qualities refers to performing as many virtuous deeds as possibly through your three doors, whether they be small or large virtues. The discipline of benefiting sentient beings, working for the welfare of others, is explained in the Bodhisattva Bhumi as having eleven aspects. However, in short, this refers to both directly and indirectly bringing benefit to other sentient beings and establishing them in virtue with a pure, superior intention.
Patience, likewise, has three types. The patience of taking no offence towards harm means that if someone, whoever it may be, beats you, hurts you, robs you, defeats you, abuses you with nasty words, and the like, you do not retaliate with anger or hatred, but instead cultivate loving-kindness. The patience of undertaking suffering means you gladly endure the hardships of heat and cold, hunger and thirst, exhaustion, and so on when seeking out teachings and practicing. It also implies not getting at all discouraged, but instead generating some fortitude. The third is the patience of finding certainty in the dharma, which means to be unafraid and unintimidated when you hear about the resolve of the conquerors and bodhisattvas and their inconceivable great qualities or when you hear about the natural state of emptiness and the profound methods. It includes generating delight in all of them.
Next is diligence, which also has three types. First is the armour-like diligence, which means not belittling the importance of a small, virtuous action thinking, “This is unnecessary. It does not matter.” It includes not losing courage in the face of great virtue thinking, “I cannot do that. It is beyond me.” Rather, you should take delight in practicing any type of goodness, no matter what it is. The second type is the diligence of application, which means not giving in to laziness and distraction when practicing dharma and virtue, but instead continuing with some constancy. The third type is the diligence of not turning back, which means that even if you have no sign of benefit or result in the practice immediately, you do not lose faith or courage, but carry through until having reached the very final result.
The training here involves pledging that, to the best of your ability, you will train in each of these.
Here there are two aspects: the causes for bringing forth concentration and the actual concentration, dhyana.
THE CAUSES FOR BRINGING FORTH CONCENTRATION
Dhyana and shamatha are of identical nature, and you must bring forth the support that is the cause for producing them, namely, to keep your body away from distractions (in other words a quiet place) and to keep the mind away from conceptual thinking.
Now, what is meant by distractions? It means children, spouse, friends, and followers—in short, sentient beings. It means food, wealth, honor, and gain. It means praise, fame, and reputation. Becoming attached and clinging to any of these is a distraction. This being so, the Buddha has taught twenty faults or shortcomings of attachment to such distractions in the sutras. In particular, they prevent the mind from simply remaining at ease. Being free from distractions is solitude. When you give up distractions and remain alone in a remote place, samadhi will quickly take birth in one’s stream of being. Therefore, you should do just that.
When remaining in a remote place, you must give up engaging in nonvirtuous actions of body and speech and getting distracted by neutral actions. Stop getting caught up in emotional trains of thought and pursuing deluded, worldly thoughts and activities, whether they be subtle or coarse. Once you are completely free of distraction, train one-pointedly in concentration. That is how the samadhi of shamatha will take birth in your being.
THE ACTUAL TRAINING IN DHYANA, OR CONCENTRATION
The first type of dhyana is the dhyana of peaceful abiding in actuality, which means presently in this life, not in some future life. You do this by developing the shamatha of pliancy of the body and mind. In this present context, there are some physical and mental key points. The first has to do with posture. Sit on a comfortable seat with your legs in the vajra posture. Place your hands below the navel in the gesture of equanimity. Keep the backbone straight with the shoulders spread out like a vulture’s wings. Keep the tip of the tongue on the palette and the chin slightly in towards the neck. The eyes, half open, should look directly forward into space, past the tip of the nose. This is called the seven-point posture of Vairochana. When keeping this posture, you should be neither too tight nor too relaxed, but balanced between the two.
With regards to the key points for the mind, there is training with a support and training without a support.
Training with a support
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