Mar 11, 2023
This week we continue deepening our understanding of precisely what it means to us to take refuge, in the Buddha, in recovery. Last episode, we discussed the Four Kayas of a Buddha. This episode continues the discussion of Objects of Refuge, Refuge in the Buddha, The Five Wisdom aspects. Don't worry, we'll break it down simply, and do some practice to gain direct knowledge of refuge in the Buddha.
From Essential Instructions on
Refuge and Bodhicitta and rigpawiki.org
The Buddha is endowed with the Four Kayas and the Five Wisdoms.
We continue with the Five Wisdoms.
The Five Wisdoms
The wisdom of dharmadhātu,
which is the inherent purity of absolute space.
Wisdom of dharmadhatu
Wisdom of
dharmadhatu (Skt. dharmadhātujñāna;
Tib. ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས་ཀྱི་ཡེ་ཤེས་, Wyl. chos kyi
dbyings kyi ye shes) — one of the five wisdoms. The wisdom of
the dharmadhatu is the realization of the absolute truth,
the natural state of all things.
The mirror-like wisdom, which is wisdom’s unceasing clarity
aspect.
Mirror-like wisdom
Mirror-like
wisdom (Skt. ādarśajñāna;
Tib. མེ་ལོང་ལྟ་བུའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་, melong tabü
yeshe, Wyl. me long lta bu'i ye shes) — one of
the five wisdoms. Just as the clear surface of a mirror
reflects everything before it, the wisdom of the absolute
nature ‘reflects’ all the phenomena
of samsara and nirvana. This clear reflection is the
mirror-like wisdom.
The equalizing wisdom, which is the absence of attachment and
aversion towards anyone or anything, near or far.
Wisdom of equality
Wisdom of
equality (Skt. samatājñāna;
Tib. མཉམ་ཉིད་ཡེ་ཤེས་, Wyl. mnyam nyid ye shes) — one
of the five wisdoms. Just as all the reflections in a mirror
are the same in being simply reflections, without any concept of
good or bad, the wisdom of equality is to
regard samsara and nirvana as equal, as having
a single mode and one taste.
The wisdom of discernment, which knows objects without confusing or
conflating them.
Wisdom of
discernment
(Skt. pratyavekṣanājñāna;
Tib. སོ་སོར་རྟོག་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་, Wyl. so sor rtog pa'i
ye shes) — one of the five wisdoms. It is the knowledge that
while from the point of view of the absolute nature all phenomena
are the same in being equal, from the point of view of the
phenomena themselves all things
in samsara and nirvana are distinct and not
confounded.
All-accomplishing wisdom which
effortlessly brings about the welfare of others.
All-accomplishing wisdom (Skt. kṛtyānuṣṭhānajñāna;
Tib. བྱ་བ་གྲུབ་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་, jawa drubpé
yeshe, Wyl. bya ba grub pa'i ye shes) — one of
the five wisdoms. Like a doctor who diagnoses a disease by
taking the patient’s pulse and then does all he can to treat and
remedy the disease, the buddhas, with their all-accomplishing
wisdom, consider beings and the ways by which they might benefit
them, and then appear spontaneously and effortlessly, without
change or exertion, to benefit those beings.
Join me every Friday for practices integrated with words and sounds
on this and all the shows!
All are welcome. Send questions to info@compassionaterecovery.us
This is the path of bodhisattvas, yogis and Buddhists in
recovery.
"You can judge me, but please take what's in my hand."
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