In praise of dependent arising

[Ensapa]

Here's another very beautiful and important Dharma text of our lineage. The understanding of the 12 links of dependent arising is very important for Buddhists as it is one of the core Buddhist teachings that is common to all traditions. Although our Dharma protector is important, what is equally important is the study of the Buddha's teachings, coupled with instructions from a qualified teacher and we will soon find that the teacher's instructions and actions tally and compliment and reinforce our understanding of the Dharma and we will be able to put it into practice with ease.

In Praise of Dependent Arising

by Tsongkhapa (rJe Tsong-kha-pa Blo-bzang grags-pa)
translated by Alexander Berzin, 1979,
revised May 2006 and May 2008
Homage to (my) Guru, Manjughosha.

(1) I bow to (you) the Triumphant (Buddha),
Who has seen and taught dependent arising,
Which, to see (makes you) a knower
And to speak of (makes you) an unsurpassable instructor.

(2) Unawareness is the root of as much torment
As there is in the world.
Thus, you spoke of dependent arising
Which, if seen, turns that back.

(3) At that time, how could those with intelligence
Not have comprehended
The path of dependent arising
As being the essential point of your teachings?

(4) As that is so, how could anyone find
As a gateway for praising you, O Guardian,
Anything more wondrous than
Your statements about dependent arising?

(5) “Whatever depends on conditions
Is devoid of a self-establishing nature.”
What could be a more amazing, excellent
Manner of instructing than this statement?

(6) This real fact (of dependent arising) which, if grasped at (as establishing true existence),
Makes infantile beings’ bondage to grasping for extremes more firm,
Is the gateway for the learned to cut all the webs
Of their mental fabrication, without any exception.

(7) As this teaching is not seen in others,
Then the title “Teacher” is really yours (alone);
It’s a sham word, however, if also (used)
   for those with heterodox (views),
Like “lion” for the species “fox.”

( How wondrous – a Teacher! How wondrous – a Safe Direction!
How wondrous – a Supreme Speaker! How wondrous – a Guardian!
I prostrate to (you) that Teacher,
Who spoke excellently about dependent arising.

(9) You, the Benefactor, prescribed it
As a medicine for wandering beings,
(Since) it’s the peerless line of reasoning
For ascertaining voidness, the heart of your teachings.

(10) How can those who see this manner (of reason)
Of dependent arising as contradicting (functionality)
Or as unestablished
Ever be able to comprehend your system?

(11) When you saw voidness as meaning dependent arising,
(You saw that) voidness of a self-establishing nature
And the performing of functions are not contradictory,
But in fact reasonable (in terms of one another).

(12) But if one sees the reverse of that,
Then since function would be inadmissible in terms of voidness,
And there could be no voidness in terms of function,
One would be asserting a plunge into an abyss of despair.

(13) Because of that, excellent praise to the vision
Of dependent arising in your teachings!
For that, in fact, nullifies (both) total nonexistence
And existence by means of a self-establishing nature.

(14) Non-reliance is like a flower from empty space;
Therefore non-dependence does not exist.
If the existence (of things) were established by their essential natures,
Then the establishment of that would contradict their depending
   on causes and conditions.

(15) (Thus) you said that because of that,
   since there are no phenomena
Other than what dependently arises,
There are no phenomena
Other than what is devoid of a self-establishing nature.

(16) You (further) said that because, if phenomena
   (actually) had a certain self-establishing nature,
(The appearance of) self-establishing natures
   could not be turned back,
Nirvana would (then) become inadmissible,
And all mental fabrication could not be turned back.

(17) Because of that, in the crowd of learned ones,
You spoke excellently, again and again, with a lion’s roar,
That everything is parted from self-establishing natures.
Who could get the better of this?

(18) There is no such thing as a self-establishing nature;
Also, the entire presentation is reasonable of “this” arising
   from depending on “this.”
As these two (points) are non-contradictory,
Is there need to mention that they fit together?

(19) “Because of the line of reasoning, dependent arising,
One does not become founded in an extreme view.”
This excellent statement (of yours) is the cause
For your speech, O Guardian, being peerless.

(20) All these (things) are devoid (of being established)
   by an essential nature,
While from “this,” “this” arises as a result.
These two certainties, without hindering one another,
Serve as (mutual) helps.

(21) What could be more amazing than this?
What could be more marvelous than this?
There is no other way of praising
Than to praise you in this way.

(22) Enslaved by their muddle-headedness,
Some are hostile toward you.
Is it any wonder they cannot bear the sound
Of “no self-establishing nature?”

(23) But those who accept dependent arising,
The cherished treasure from among your statements,
And then cannot bear the roar of voidness –
It is they who amaze me.

(24) It is just these people who grasp at self-establishing natures
In the very name of dependent arising,
But which, (in fact,) is the unsurpassable gateway
Leading to there being no self-establishing natures.

(25) By what method could they be led
To this excellent pathway pleasing to you,
Which is a peerless fording passage
Well traveled by the Supreme Noble Aryas?

(26) How can having a self-establishing nature,
   being unfashioned, and non-reliant,
As well as being dependently arising, reliant, and  fashioned
Both be what are gathered together
With no contradiction on a single basis?

(27) Because of that, whatever dependently arises is,
   from the beginning,
Completely removed from having a self-establishing nature.
Yet, since (things) appear to be there,
You said that all of them are like illusions.

(28) It is by this very (reasoning) that one can well understand
The statement that even if opponents try to pick apart
How you have taught, they can never find
An occurrence (of fault) in the Dharma’s consistency.

(29) “Why is this so?” It’s because, by this explanation,
You’ve distanced afar any chances
For interpolation or repudiation
Regarding any phenomenon, seen or unseen.

(30) By this very path of dependent arising,
Which is the reason your speech is seen as peerless,
One can develop certainty that
Your other statements are valid as well.

(31) In training, in your footsteps, in what you have said so well,
After you saw in accord with fact,
One puts all one’s troubles far away,
Because one turns back the root of all one’s faults.

(32) (On the other hand,) those who face away from your teachings,
Even should they devote themselves wearily for a long time,
Are like inviting one mistake after the next,
Because of their firm view of identity natures.

(33) How wondrous! How could any learned person,
When he has comprehended the difference between these two,
Not develop, at that time, respect for you
From the depth of his heart?

(34) What need to mention many of your statements,
When finding merely a rough certainty
About even only the meaning of a single portion
Bestows supreme bliss.

(35) Alas! My mind is so overwhelmed with being muddled
That although I’ve long taken safe direction from (you,
Who are) a mass of excellent qualities like this,
I cannot show even a tiny speck of good qualities (in myself).

(36) But until the flow of my life-force toward the direction
Of the mouth of the Lord of Death comes to an end,
I shall consider myself fortunate even in just this:
The slight amount of confident belief (I’ve developed) in you.

(37) Like a commander of the triumphant in the worldly realms,
Your omniscient mind has no other (match)
   in its magnificence and excellence,
In that both, among teachers,
   you are a teacher of dependent arising,
And among discriminating awarenesses,
   you have an awareness of dependent arising.

(38) However much has been proclaimed by you
Has originated and proceeded from dependent arising itself.
And, moreover, it’s been for the purpose of nirvana
   (a release from suffering).
You do not do anything that doesn’t bring about (such) pacification.

(39) How wondrous! Because your teachings
Bring about a pacification (of suffering)
To all those in whose ears it passes,
Who could not respect upholding your teachings?

(40) My delight ever increases in this system (of yours),
Which defeats every kind of challenging opponent,
Is devoid of contradictions from top to bottom,
And bestows the two aims of the nine kinds of beings.

(41) It is for this purpose that you offered over and again,
Through countless eons, at some times your body,
At others your life, as well as your dear relations
And your stores of wealth.

(42) What poor fortune not to have heard
That Dharma (directly) from you,
To whose mind I am drawn, like a fish to a hook,
By seeing your good qualities.

(43) By the strength of that sadness,
My mind shall never give up (its regard for you),
Like the mind of a mother
Continually following after her dear child.

(44) And so, for this, when I think of your statements,
I think of (you,) that Teacher, radiant with the glory
Of the physical signs and exemplary features,
Surrounded completely by an aura of light,

(45) And, in that manner, proclaiming these (teachings)
With your Brahma-like voice. The mere arising in my mind
Of the image of your physical form, O Sage,
Is a medicine like moonlight for the torment of my fever.

(46) Although this excellent system of yours
Is so wondrous, yet unlearned people
Have made contentions over so many points,
Like tangled vines.

(47) Seeing this manner (of theirs),
I have followed with a great deal of effort
(Only) the learned and thereby have
Repeatedly sought your intended meaning.

(48) At that time, when I studied the many various texts
Of the systems of our own and others’ tenets,
My mind was completely tormented
By a web of one doubt after the next.

(49-51) But, my mind found relief from its exhaustion
When, through the kindness of my gurus, I beheld
The garden of moonflowers of the textual tradition of Nagarjuna –
Whom you prophesied would comment correctly
Upon the ways of your unsurpassable vehicle,
Getting rid of the extremes of existence and nonexistence –
Illumined by the array of white light
Of the excellent explanations of the Glorious Moon, Chandrakirti –
The full orb of whose stainless understanding passes without hindrance
Through the sky of the scriptural pronouncements,
Dispelling the darkness of the heart of grasping for extremes
And outshining the constellations of the speakers of distorted (views).

(52) Of all your enlightening deeds,
The deeds of your enlightening speech are supreme.
Because that indeed is (in reference to) this very (teaching),
Learned ones, be continually mindful of Buddha from this!

(53) In the footsteps of (you,) this Teacher, I became a monastic,
And my study of (your) statements, Triumphant One,
   has not been poor.
As a monk who makes effort in the actions of a yogi,
I pay respect like this to (you,) that Great Seer.

(54) To have met like this with the teachings of (you,)
The Unsurpassable Teacher, is due to the kindness of my gurus.
Thus, I dedicate this constructive force as a cause
For all wandering beings, barring none, to be upheld
   by hallowed spiritual masters.

(55) Till the end of existence, may the teachings, as well,
   of (you,) that Benefactor,
Remain unshaken by the winds of misconception.
And may they always be filled with those who have found
   confident belief in (you), their Teacher,
By having understood this manner of (your) teachings.

(56) In all my lifetimes, may I uphold,
   even at the cost of my body or life,
This excellent system of (you,) the Sage,
Which clarifies reality in terms of dependent arising,
And never loosen (my hold), for even a mere instant.

(57) May I spend day and night in examination,
Thinking of methods by which I can further these (teachings),
Which (you,) that Supreme Guide, realized
By taking earnestly to heart immeasurable hardships.

(58) When I make efforts in that manner, with pure exceptional resolve,
May I always be unswervingly assisted
By worldly protectors, such as Brahma and Indra,
And guardians (of the Dharma), like Legden, Mahakala, and the rest.

This has been composed by the Buddhist monk Lozang-dragpa (Tsongkhapa).

[Vajraprotector]

Here's some background 

Although even as a young man, Tsong Khapa's learning was unexcelled and his fame as a teacher and meditation master widespread, he remained dissatisfied with his realisation of the ultimate view of reliaty, the wisdom of emptiness.

In particular, he felt there were subtle points relating to the profound madhyamika philosophy as propounded by the Indian masters Nagarjuna, Buddhapalita and Chandrakirti about which he still needed clarification.

Therefore, at the age of forty he withdrew from active teaching and put himself into intensive retreat on these very points. Then, as related in a poem recounting his mystic experiences, written by one of his disciples and addressed to Je Rinpoche himself:

One night you dreamed of Nagarjuna
And his five spiritual sons
Amongst themselves discussing
The fabric of dependent origination.
From their midst came Buddhapalita
Who touched you with a scripture.

Tsong Khapa awoke with a feeling of great bliss and immediately opened his copy of Buddhapalita's text. As recounted in his biography:

While he was reading the words,
"the self is not the same as the [mental and physical] aggregates, nor is it anything other than the aggrefates"

he effortlessly experienced the ultimate realisation of absolute reality, along with perfect understanding of all the ... subtleties concerning the authentic view.

Overfloweing with joy and faith in Shakyamuni Buddha, the original source of this enlightening realisation, he wrote the poem entitled "In Praise of Dependent Arising."


From: Images of Enlightenment: Tibetan Art in Practice,  By Jonathan Landaw, Andy Weber

[Dondrup Shugden]

The core teachings and perfect understanding of Buddhism is Impermanence and Emptiness. 

Therefore is Impermanence a form of flippancy or fickleness? Emptiness is about nothing?

The understanding of Dependant arising is a good start to the final clarity to impermanence and emptiness.

This article is a great read.