Constance Kassor’s review for Buddhadharma:
Tongkhapa (1357-1419), one of the most highly regarded thinkers in Buddhist philosophy, was honored in December 2019 at Ganden Monastery in Mundgod, India, during a global conference titled “Jé Tsongkhapa: Life, Thought, and Legacy.” This gathering, convened by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, commemorated the 600th anniversary of Tsongkhapa’s passing, and included presentations in Tibetan, Hindi, and English. Some of the English-language presentations delivered at this conference have been revised and printed in Tsongkhapa: The Legacy of Tibet’s Great Philosopher-Saint, edited by David B. Gray (Wisdom).
This volume contains essays by 12 highly regarded scholars, offering various perspectives on Tsongkhapa’s contributions to Buddhist thought. The collection highlights key areas of Tsongkhapa’s work, although it is not — nor does it claim to be — a comprehensive overview of his legacy. It opens with an edited transcript of the gathering’s keynote address, delivered by Donald S. Lopez Jr., which provides a broad introduction to Tsongkhapa’s life, writings, and global influence.
The first section focuses on Tsongkhapa’s contributions to Madhyamaka, the area in which he is perhaps best known in the west. The second section shifts to Tsongkhapa’s prolific commentaries on tantra, an equally significant but less explored aspect of his legacy. The final section, entitled “Moving Minds,” addresses Tsongkhapa’s influence in Tibet and beyond. Topics in this section address Buddhist textual interpretation, Perfection of Wisdom literature, as well as Tsongkhapa’s influence in Mongolia and the modern world.
Many books have already been written on Tsongkhapa, but this volume is a useful addition to existing literature. It offers a new set of perspectives on this important figure, highlighting his continued relevance to Buddhist thought, six centuries after his passing.
[Please note that the text from which this excerpt derives makes use of footnotes and diacriticals; these are not represented in this excerpt.]
Excerpt:
Learning, Living, and Teaching Bodhicitta: Je Tsongkhapa’s Contribution to Spreading Compassion in the World
by Bhiksuni Thubten Chodron
This paper will begin with full disclosure by the author: I’m an unabashed Lama Tsongkhapa fan. While this conference features many academic scholars I greatly respect, I would like to speak as a practitioner and as someone who spends a good amount of time sharing the Buddhadharma with people from diverse walks of life in the West. I will share with you in a more personal way how Jé Rinpoché’s teachings—especially those on great compassion and bodhicitta—and the example of his life have inspired and continue to inspire me and many others. I will also discuss how Je Tsongkhapa’s explanation clarifies aspects of compassion that have often been confusing for some Westerners. And in conclusion, I will share some thoughts about how all of us can uphold Je Tsongkhapa’s teachings in a global culture where everything is in constant flux.
Je Tsongkhapa emphasized building a strong foundation before entering the Vajrayana. When he did retreat in Ölkha from 1392 to 1395, his focus was on not only the preliminary practice of prostrations, mandala offerings, and so on but also the practices of renunciation of samsaric duḥkha, bodhicitta, and the wisdom realizing emptiness, which are the principal aspects of the path. During this retreat he read many sūtras on compassion, bodhicitta, and bodhisattva conduct, and in his meditation he cultivated the aspirations, attitudes, attributes, and deeds of bodhisattvas.
Transforming our mind is no easy endeavor and requires great inner strength, perseverance, and courage. Je Tsongkhapa’s life illustrates that: he spent years doing these practices, continuing to do them afer he began tantric practice. He diligently cultivated compassion, overcoming all obstacles that could interfere with it, such as possessive attachment, resentment, self-pity, and self-centeredness. Without discouragement he contemplated the two major factors in generating bodhicitta—awareness of the duhkha of sentient beings and a strong feeling of affection and heartwarming love toward them—so that effortlessly all sentient beings had a place in his heart. This is an excellent role model for us, especially for those people in
the West who want the quick, cheap, and easy way to accomplish our goals.
Je Tsongkhapa was the true nonsectarian who learned from whomever he could. This is reminiscent of Sudhana, the principal character in the Array of Flowers Sutra (Gandavyuha Sutra), the thirty-ninth chapter of the Flower Ornament Sutra (Avatamsaka Sutra.) The youth Sudhana sought the truth, and on a lengthy pilgrimage, spoke to fifty -three spiritual friends, each of whom enhanced Sudhana’s knowledge and understanding before sending him on to the next spiritual mentor. Similarly, Je Tsongkhapa traveled widely, studying with a wide range of spiritual mentors, each of whom contributed to his knowledge and understanding.
Like Sudhana, Je Tsongkhapa didn’t simply accept what all these spiritual mentors said—he thought about their teachings deeply, debated them, and importantly, meditated on them and put them into practice. In that way, he gradually discerned the Buddha’s intent. Also, like Sudhana, Je Tsongkhapa cultivated the bodhisattva aspirations, unshakable resolves, deeds, and ethical restraints, and on this basis he taught the Dharma widely. And just as Sudhana had mystical visions, so did Je Rinpoche.
Not only were his actions motivated by great compassion and bodhicitta, he also taught the method to generate bodhicitta and encouraged his students to practice it. Highlighting bodhicitta as one of the three principal aspects of the path emphasized its great importance as the key to the Mahayana. In addition, he harmonized the two ways of cultivating bodhicitta—the seven cause-and-effect instructions and equalizing and exchanging self and others—so that they could be practiced together. He put them in a combined order for contemplation: (1) develop equanimity toward friends, enemies, and strangers, (2) recognize all sentient beings as having been your mother, (3) remember the love and kindness of others both when they were your mother and when they were not, (4) wish to repay that kindness, (5) equalize self and others, (6) examine the disadvantages of self-centeredness and (7) the benefits of cherishing others, (8) exchange self and others, (9) take others’ suffering, with special emphasis on compassion, (10) give away your own happiness, with special emphasis on love, (11) develop the great resolve, and (12) generate bodhicitta.
Je Tsongkhapa said that initially the practices to cultivate bodhicitta were challenging, but through perseverance, his bodhicitta became effortless. Enthusiastic to share the precious jewel of bodhicitta, he asked Manjusri’s permission to teach it to others, but Manjusri recommended that he focus on his own practice instead, because subduing the unruly minds of sentient beings was difficult. He followed Manjusjri’s advice and began to teach bodhicitta later when conditions were conducive.
Great compassion and bodhicitta figure strongly in the aspirational prayers he made to be reborn in Amitābha Buddha’s pure land Sukhavati, which he asked the monks of Ganden Monastery to recite shortly before he passed away:
Tough born in pure Sukhāvatī, I pray to be able to journey to impure realms with unhindered miraculous power motivated by fierce compassion, there to teach every living being the Dharma according to their disposition and so bring them to that immaculate path hailed by the Buddha. By quickly perfecting these exalted practices, for the benefit of countless living beings, may I easily attain the awakened state of a buddha. . . .
Furthermore, in every life, having put an end to all self-preoccupied ways of thinking and to all laziness and weakness regarding the powerful practices of the bodhisattva, may I possess bodhicitta wise in the accomplishment of supreme courage and the willingness to dedicate myself to others. As the noble Avalokiteśvara has done, may I perfect every bodhisattva practice. . . .
To perfect the bodhisattva practice that dispels all laziness, may I in every life first generate bodhicitta, and by powerful endeavor undistracted for even an instant, may I reach great awakening as the unparalleled Sakyamuni has done.
Not only does this sampling of verses teach us about compassion, but being heartfelt aspirations, they illustrate how Je Tsongkhapa himself regarded life, death, and his mother sentient beings.
What touches me the most, as a practitioner, regarding Je Rinpoche’s explanation of bodhicitta is his emphasis on Santideva’s equalizing and exchanging self and others, which I find more suitable for a modern, secular audience. It is clear that Je Tsongkhapa’s approach has influenced His Holiness the Dalai Lama in that His Holiness emphasizes the role of reasoning in all aspects of the Dharma, including topics that may be considered more “emotional,” such as great compassion.
“If you want to be selfish,” suggests His Holiness, “take care of others.” The reasoning behind this advice opens a welcome door for a Western audience that often thinks that to be genuinely compassionate, one has to suffer and that one’s own well-being in every aspect of life has to be renounced in order to be altruistic.
Here “being selfish” does not refer to the self-centeredness that most of us suffer from; it means fulfilling one’s own spiritual aims as well as experiencing happiness in this life as a byproduct. The reasoning that our own and others’ happiness are linked—that happiness is not a limited resource that I must give up for you to have it—is refreshingly appealing. The idea that the self-centered attitude is my true enemy and that other living beings are the cause of my well-being can be verified through deeply examining our own life experience. The notion that true compassion doesn’t involve the personal distress that arises when we can’t bear to see others suffer opens us to see that living with compassion brings tremendous joy and optimism.
Bodhicitta is about fulfilling both our own and others’ purpose. There is no virtue in our suffering for suffering’s sake. Rather, seeing the drawbacks of self-centeredness and the benefits of cherishing others, we can work for the welfare of everyone. To do so, we must learn to live in a balanced way. We can set priorities without feeling guilty or believing we are selfish. We can rest when tired so that we can return later to our Dharma practice or altruistic actions. Even doing everyday activities such as bathing, walking the dog, and sitting in a traffic jam can be imbued with bodhicitta. Presenting compassion in this way is psychologically healing for many people in highly demanding cultures.
Unpacking Candrakirti’s Homage to Great Compassion
Je Tsongkhapa’s brilliance in teaching great compassion and bodhicitta shines in his Illuminating the Intent (Dgongs pa rab gsal), his extensive commentary on Candrakirti’s Entering the Middle Way (Madhyamakavatara). Here, depending on Candrakirti’s autocommentary, Je Tsongkhapaunpacks and clarifies the meaning of Candrakīrti’s homage to great compassion. There is much to say, but I will cite only a few verses and give a brief explanation here.
Candrakirti points to great compassion as the root of the other two causes of bodhisattvas—bodhicitta and nondual understanding—and as the essential factor at the beginning, middle, and end of the bodhisattva path.
Compassion alone is seen as the seed
of a conqueror’s rich harvest, as water that nourishes it,
and as the ripened fruit that is the source of long enjoyment.
Terefore, at the start I praise compassion.
Je Tsongkhapa explains that at the beginning of our practice, great compassion is likened to a seed in that it gives rise to the great resolve to protect all sentient beings from the duḥkha of samsara and lead them to full awakening. Based on this, we generate bodhicitta, the strong determination to attain buddhahood in order to lead others to that state. To actualize this aspiration, we must amass the two collections of merit and wisdom and engage in the six perfections—especially the perfection of wisdom. This leads us to learn, contemplate, and meditate on nondual wisdom. This is the sequence followed by those of modest faculties. Those with sharp faculties first generate nondual understanding followed by bodhicitta. In both cases, compassion is the root of the other two causes of a bodhisattva and is the seed that bears the fruit of Buddhahood.
In the middle of our practice, great compassion is like nourishing water that sustains the sprout of bodhicitta. It prevents the discouragement that could arise from thinking of the great amount of time and energy required to amass the two collections and accomplish the six perfections. Compassion keeps our heart connected to the practice so we do not waver in developing all the vast causes needed to attain full awakening.
At the conclusion of the path, great compassion resembles ripe fruit. It enables the buddhas to enact their awakening activities to benefit sentient beings for as long as samsara remains by manifesting as the two form bodies of buddhas—the enjoyment and emanation bodies.
By stressing that we must immerse ourselves in great love and compassion over a long period of time and create a variety of causes and conditions in order to attain them, Jé Tsongkhapa’s explanation is a counterbalance to the impatience to do things quickly and easily that some Westerners experience. It will help them to understand that having a few strong experiences of compassion in meditation is not the realization of great compassion or bodhicitta. This prevents practitioners from becoming complacent or proud and stopping their meditation on compassion.
Candrakirti pays homage to three types of compassion: the compassion observing sentient beings, the compassion observing phenomena, and the compassion observing the unapprehendable. This section is especially powerful for generating great compassion:
Like a bucket in a well, migrators have no autonomy;
First, with the thought “I,” they cling to a self;
then, with the thought “mine,” they become attached to things; I bow to this compassion that cares for migratory.
[Homage to that compassion for] migrators
seen as evanescent and empty of inherent existence
like a moon in rippling water.
All three types of compassion have both an observed object (alambana) and a subjective aspect (akara). The observed object is the basic object that the mind focuses on, whereas the subjective aspect is the way the mind relates to that object. All three types of compassion observe sentient beings, and all three have the subjective aspect of wanting to protect them from samsaric duhkha.
The first compassion observes just sentient beings who are afflicted by one form of duhkha after another. The last two types of compassion focus on sentient beings qualified by specific attributes. “Qualified by” means that a quality appears to that mind through the force of previously having brought that attribute to mind. Before the second compassion can arise in the mind, we must first ascertain that sentient beings are impermanent— not static for even a moment; for the third compassion to arise, we must first ascertain that sentient beings lack inherent existence. These two compassions do not apprehend sentient beings as impermanent or as lacking inherent existence; rather these attributes appear to the compassionate mind because the person has previously ascertained impermanence and emptiness.
Here the wisdom side of the path, which involves the realizations of impermanence and selflessness (in the case of the second compassion) and of emptiness (for the third compassion), accompanies the method side of the path, adding depth to our compassion.
