Tantric Ethics by Je Tsongkhapa

Author:Je Tsongkhapa
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wisdom Publications

Fifth Root Downfall

Fifth is giving up bodhicitta, the root of dharmas. [Mā 4cd]

This has two parts. The object is “bodhicitta,” the solemn oath that you will attain buddhahood for the sake of living beings. The Bounteous Array Sūtra says of it, “Child of good family! Bodhicitta is the seed, as it were, of every Buddhadharma.”Thus it is the root of all “dharmas” and good qualities of a “buddha.”

Śāntipa calls bodhicitta the compassion that wants others to be free from misery and its cause. As one side of the solemn oath to attain buddhahood in order to free wandering beings from misery, this indicates the other [side, your future buddhahood, which is the means to accomplish this compassionate wish]. Hence, as Nagpopa says, take it to be the bodhicitta that is a prayer. As for the difference between this and love, Nagpopa says, “Love precedes and bodhicitta is the fundamental state [454] to which it leads.”

The action that causes the downfall is if you give up that prayer bodhicitta, thinking, “I am not able to get enlightened for the sake of infinite living beings.” That is the fifth root downfall. Since Nagpopa says not giving it up is swearing the solemn oath of that thought [of enlightenment] and not breaking it, giving it up is [thinking “I am not able… ”]. Some commentaries on the root downfalls also say it is to give up the jasmine-like [fluid]. I will deal with that in the context of the Kālacakra Tantra.

With the exception of the Vajra Tent Tantra, the name given to this infraction is the same as in the above extracts. Since in this case just giving it up constitutes the root downfall, even if the parts are not complete, it is still a defeat.

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