Well first I suppose we should start with that thing that the the Buddhist
teachings, when when we assess them, you know we look at the vast range of the
Buddhist teachings which he shared directly with his own followers, and then
through them with us, we can see there are these kind of two dominant patterns
two dominant categories which we call in Sanskrit the Hinayana and Mahayana.
Hinayana meaning lesser vehicle or narrow vehicle/small vehicle and Mahayana being
great. What does that indicate? What's small and what's great? Well,
what's small is motivation. What's great is motivation. In the sense that there's two
ways to respond to the Buddha's teachings. One is to respond thinking of
them as 'that is the way I will become free from my own suffering. If I
eliminate my delusions I will experience peace'. A deeper way, deeper because it
emulates the Buddha himself, is to understand the purpose of practicing the
path is not merely that. Is not merely to arrive at a state of personal peace but
to find in oneself the capacity to show others the way to that peace, that freedom
from suffering, which is what Buddha himself did. Now for many people it may
be that they move from one of these motivations here starting with the
smaller motivation as they become mature on the path, they gradually open up and
realize this sense of responsibility, of altruistic responsibility for others
which is the core of the Mahayana, the 'Great Vehicle' so the Mahayana is
practicing the Dharma out of the motivation we call bodhichitta. The wish
to become a Buddha for others. A wish that arises through a compassionate sense of
responsibility for them. That we must help them to find liberation from
suffering. So the Mahayana, like the Hinayana was taught by the Buddha in
his discourses or Sutra as we call them in Sanskrit, but they differ in
that they have this greater motivation. And also they differ in important
respects in terms of the way reality is described. Reality is described in a much
more profound way. Emptiness and non-self are described
in great depth in the Mahayana, whereas they're somewhat kind of
presented in a much less developed way in the Hinayana. So there's two important
distinctions. But within the Mahayana, the Great Vehicle, we say, follows a very
Tibetan/Himalayan tradition say, that the Buddha presented two ways in which that
Mahayana aspiration to become a Buddha for others can be fulfilled. One is a
common or ordinary way, which follows what he talked about in the sutras in
that he prescribed there that Bodhisattvas, those who have the
motivation to become Buddha's, should practice the, what we call, the six
perfections or six transcendental virtues; giving, moral discipline, patience,
effort, meditation and wisdom. And by so doing they gradually accumulate or
gather qualities of merit (spiritual force) and wisdom, which will finally
culminate in awakening, in achieving the state of a Buddha. But this is a rather
gentle path and takes a long time because it's like the gradual
accumulation of the causes. Thinking of Buddhahood as, in a
sense, exterior to something that we will attain in the in the future, when enough
purification and enough accumulation of positive forces has been gathered. But we
say that for some of his more gifted Mahayana disciples
Buddha prescribed a different way of accomplishing that goal of Buddhahood.
Arising out of the same motivation, nevertheless there may be some students
who have greater capacities for powerful practice, and for them in the tantras, the
esoteric teachings of the tantras, Buddha taught this kind of, as we call it uncommon
extraordinary Mahayana or to use that Sanskrit phrase
the 'Vajrayana', the indestructible vehicle. And what's the kind of core
differential about this is that the Vajrayana, the Tantra teachings based
upon the apprehension that the qualities of a Buddha, the qualities of
enlightenment which I've mentioned before, are actually naturally present in the mind
of all beings. So that the goal Buddhahood, which all of us Buddhists are
striving for, is not something in a way which is radically other than where we
are now, is not something that is exterior to where we are now, so to speak, but can be found
if we have the right skillful methods, can be found here and now within our
being. Even though we seem to be, right now if we look at ourselves, beings
clouded by emotional disturbances and ignorance, imprints and so on, actually
the fundamental nature of our mind has never been corrupted. It is naturally
pure. It never mixed with the disturbing emotions, although they so to speak
accompany it, it never became base. It never became corrupted or impure. So if
we can find a way of practice, a path, which allows us
to apprehend that presence of the Buddha within, so to speak, then Buddhahood is
not distant. Buddhahood is actually naturally present. Naturally to be
discovered. So Vajrayana is a way in which as we put it technically, the basis
the starting point, like 'me' an ordinary sentient being, the goal, Buddhahood, and the
path to Buddhahood, are one continuum. It's like we could think of
something like copper. If we have copper, out of copper we can make something like
a bowl for drinking water for a dog, or we can make a beautiful Buddha image. The
copper however is never changed. So similarly
the Vajrayana, there is no difference between ordinary sentient beings such as
ourselves and the Buddha in the sense of the nature of our mind. It is one and the
same, the union of emptiness and luminosity, or
as it is called in the sutras, the Buddha Nature. So that never has to change.
All that has to be done is we have to realize it. And the the methods of
Vajrayana; initiations, sadhana and so on and related techniques; they are the way
of apprehending the Buddha within. Within this very body, speech and mind. Within
this very set of disturbing emotions and ignorance and imprints. The fundamental
purity of mind is never altered. Just as in my analogy, the copper never alters
whether it's fashioned into a bowl of water for the dog or a beautiful Buddha
image. As it's said in the in the Hevajra Tantra, 'all beings are already Buddha's
but they do not know this', when the obscurations are removed there they are
fully Buddhas. And again it said the only difference between a sentient being and
a Buddha is a sentient being doesn't know the nature of his or her mind and a
Buddha does, but the nature is one and the same.
The union of emptiness and luminosity. so Vajrayana is extraordinary skillful
means, as I mentioned like through receiving initiations from Lamas
practicing the various sadhanas, the various meditation practices derived from
those sadhanas, of apprehending the Buddha within. And that makes it the most
rapid means to Buddhahood. So therefore we call it the uncommon or extraordinary
Mahayana.