Now Shantideva gives some reasonings establishing that things are empty of true existence. First of all, he shows how persons lack true existence, then phenomena other than persons.

All of us are generally familiar with this meditation. The central point is this: if the I we normally see truly exists, we should be able to find it upon investigation.  If something exists, it should be findable. If it cannot be found, then even though it appears, we can safely conclude it is an illusion.

Geshe-la explains in How to Transform your Life that there are two types of search: a conventional search and an ultimate search. A conventional search for our car, for example, is to look in the parking lot for where our car is. We then find it and say, “there is my car.” But an ultimate search is when we are not satisfied with merely finding our car, but we seek to identify what exactly is our car. We seek to find the thing that is our car.

The car that normally appears to us is one that appears to exist independently of all other phenomena, and certainly independently of our mind. It is a discrete thing that can be identified, and we can point to it and say this is my car. We should be able to separate all the things that are not our car and be left with our car. Conventionally of course we can do this. As we go through the parking lot, we can say that’s not my car, that’s not my car, that’s not my car, but that is my car. But when we perform an ultimate search, we are looking more deeply to identify what is the car itself.

In the same way, we can look for our I. Conventionally, we can go looking for ourselves and then find here I am. But if we are not satisfied with simply conventionally identifying ourselves, but want to look more deeply to identify specifically our self, we need to engage in an ultimate search. Who am I? The I that we normally see, like our car, appears to exist from its own side independent of all other phenomena. We can recall the post from earlier in this series where we talked about identifying the object of negation. Gen Tharchin said 80% of realizing emptiness is identifying the object of negation. We need to identify clearly the self that we normally see so that when we look for it but cannot find it, it has a profound effect on our mind.

When trying to identify the self that we normally see it is important that we not overthink it. It is very easy for us to generate some abstract philosophical notion of our self and then establish that that philosophical notion does not exist. But Geshe-la explains in Mirror of Dharma that this sort of meditation on emptiness of our I is powerless to actually overcome our delusions because the self that we are negating is a fabricated, artificial notion of self, and not the self that we normally see.

What is the self that we normally see? It’s me. It is who I see in the mirror. It is who we refer to when we say I am hungry. I like to ask where am I? Am I in the kitchen? No, I am in the living room. What is the I that I normally see? It is the one that is not in the kitchen but is in the living room. Specifically, when I look at my body or think of my thoughts, I say that’s me. I believe that my I is one with my body and mind. My body and mind is me.

With this background in mind, Shantideva now starts to go look to find our I. He is engaging in an ultimate search. As we read through these verses, it is not enough for us to simply intellectually go through them in the abstract, but we should practically apply them to looking for ourselves. We should be looking for our own I using Shantideva’s words as the pointing out instructions for guiding our own ultimate search for our I.

(9.55) By all means, be afraid of something
That is the principal cause of samsaric suffering;
But, since meditation on emptiness eliminates this suffering,
Why should you be afraid of emptiness?

(9.56) If there were a truly existent I,
It would make sense to be afraid of certain things;
But, since there is no truly existent I,
Who is there to be afraid?

We all wish to free ourself permanently from suffering.  Therefore, it makes sense to identify the cause of our suffering and remove it so that it never arises again.  Once we clearly understand how ignorance is the cause of all of our suffering, we will naturally have a strong wish to eliminate it. 

Sometimes we are afraid to really throw ourselves into the Dharma.  We worry that if we truly believe the Dharma it would require such radical changes to our lives that we are not prepared to make that we wind up holding ourselves back and preventing ourselves from fully embracing the truth of Dharma. It is true that accepting the truth of Dharma does imply radical changes, but the changes we need to make are not external. Ask ash ichikawa says we need to remain natural while changing our aspiration. We do not need to abandon our jobs, our families, our enjoyments and so forth . We merely need to abandon our delusions and their root causes. We do not need to fear realizing emptiness thinking that it will cause nothing to have any meaning. Quite the opposite. When we understand emptiness we realize we can bring infinite meaning to every single thing. If meaning existed on the sides of the objects then somethings would have meaning and others would not. But if everything is empty, we can bring meaning to everything. Therefore there is absolutely nothing to fear.

Venerable Tharchin gives the analogy of somebody holding a red hot poker. If we found ourselves holding such a poker, we would immediately let it go without hesitation. We would not continue to hold onto it thinking that our happiness depended upon it. The truth is remaining in samsara and identifying with contaminated aggregates is like holding onto such a red hot poker. It is the cause of perpetual suffering. If we can simply let go of identifying with these contaminated aggregates, we do not cease to exist, we simply cease to suffer from them.   We follow our delusions because we believe we will suffer more if we don’t.  This is what needs to change.  When it does, then we will naturally want to stop following them.

(9.52) The result of a Bodhisattva’s meditation on emptiness
Is the ability to remain in the abodes of samsara
Out of compassion for those who suffer due to confusion,
And free from the extremes of attachment and fear.

We all want to help people. But our time with others is very short. We may even live with someone throughout our entire life, but then we are separated at death. If the person we care has not themselves attained liberation or enlightenment, they will be thrown once again somewhere in samsara. If we ourselves remain an ordinary being, we will not be able to do anything for them other than pray. Will be completely helpless and when we meet them again in our future lives, we will not recognize them. This is a major obstacle to our ability to help others. In contrast, if we gained the ability to return to samsara again and again, we would be able to continue to help lead these people gradually along the stages of the path. Only in this way can we eventually guide each and every living being to enlightenment.

But returning to samsara to help others is extremely dangerous if we ourselves still have delusions and we ourselves still risk taking further samsaric rebirth. We too could get thrown somewhere in samsara and lose the path and become lost for countless eons. How can we protect ourselves against such a danger? Shantideva explains the answer is, with a bodhicitta motivation, we gain a realization of emptiness. A Bodhisattva with a realization of emptiness is able to return to the abodes of samsara without ever being swept away by them. They are then able to remain with living beings and help guide them day by day, life by life, until they attain the final goal. Such bodhisattvas are in samsara but not of samsara.

(9.53) Since the realization of emptiness is the antidote that removes the darkness
Of the delusion-obstructions and the obstructions to knowing,
Why do those who wish to attain enlightenment
Not meditate on emptiness right away?

(9.54) Thus, it is quite inappropriate to cast aspersions
On those who hold the view of emptiness;
Rather, you should meditate without any doubt
On emptiness, lack of true existence.

Geshe-la has said on numerous occasions that the true meaning of meeting Geshe Kelsang is to gain the opportunity to realize emptiness. If all of reality is nothing more than a contaminated karmic dream and this dream is the nature of suffering, then the only thing that has true meaning is gaining the ability to wake up from the dream. There is nothing for us in samsara because in fact there is nothing even there. There is no part of the samsaric dream which is safe and we do not risk getting once again thrown into the lower realms. The vast majority of samara is unimaginable suffering. The only way to be completely free from the dangers of samsara is to end it.  To make it cease. To prevent it from ever arising again. The method for doing so is to realize the emptiness of all phenomena. We need to realize directly that it has never been anything more than mere karmic appearance. We need to end such appearance in such a way that it never arises again.

Other than striving for emptiness, tell me what makes our life meaningful?  There are many, many beneficial things we can do with our life, but what active is more meaningful than realizing emptiness motivated by compassion?  I feel there is nothing more meaningful than to strive to realize emptiness out of compassion, for me it is the most compassionate activity of all.  There are many meaningful things we can do with our life and many ways we can make samsara a little bit better. But is this good enough? Is this the most we can do? When we understand samsara and we understand emptiness we realize the most meaningful thing we can do is attain liberation and, even better, attain enlightenment so that we are able to help wake everybody else up from the nightmare that is samsara.

(9.49ab) (Proponent of things) “The abandonment that Arhats achieve is not temporary.
They definitely do not take rebirth in samsara again
Because they completely abandon craving, the principal cause of such rebirth.”

The 12 dependent related links explain the mechanism by which samsara perpetuates itself. The short version is if we die with a deluded mind, then it activates contaminated karma which then once again propels us into a samsaric rebirth. The trigger links of the 12 dependent related links are dependent related craving and dependent related grasping. Arhats have completely abandoned all dependent related craving and so therefore they argue there is no trigger to activate contaminated karma to cause another samsaric rebirth. Therefore, they argue, it is not necessary do completely purify all previously accumulated contaminated karma because that which is there never is never activated. This is why the Hinayanists say it is not necessary to realize the emptiness that the Prasangikas explain.

(9.49.cd) But just as you say that they have non-deluded confusion,
Why not also say that they have non-deluded craving?

(9.50) These so-called Arhats have pleasant feelings
That they apprehend to be truly existent.
Because of feeling, craving develops –
So they must be subject to the craving.

(9.51) Although for a person who has not realized emptiness – the lack of truly existent things –
Manifest delusions might be temporarily abandoned, eventually they will manifest again,
Just as feelings and discriminations return when the concentration on the absorption without discrimination ends.
Therefore, you must strive to realize emptiness to attain even solitary liberation.

The main point here is simple:  If you do not root out the root of delusions, the ignorance grasping at an inherently existent self, then delusions will reassert themselves with time, like leaving a trace of roots of weeds.  The danger is very real here, not an academic issue:  It is possible that as a result of practicing Dharma, our mind becomes very peaceful and very happy and we can enjoy many good results.   We can easily become complacent with this.  Worse, we can easily become attached to the pleasant feelings we are experiencing in our mind, and we do not then push further to complete the path.  But if we do not root out the deepest root, such good results will be temporary, and we will eventually find ourselves right back where we are now.  To attain true cessations, we need to realize the emptiness of the mind that is deluded.  This completely eradicates such a mind, and it will never arise again.  Then we attain liberation.

From a technical point of view the reason why the percentages say that individual liberation attained by followers of the proponents of the lower schools is not actual liberation is because the karma too once again be reborn in Sam Sarah remains on their mind. This includes first the tendencies to generate delusions and 2nd the throwing karma to actually take a samsaric rebirth.

It is true if that karma never gets activated the person would never again take sense take a samsaric rebirth. But as long as the tendencies exist on the mind to generate delusions what starts out as non-deluded grasping and non-deluded craving can evolve to become delusions which then once again risk activating throwing karma. The only way to ensure that one never again returns to samsara is to purify all of the tendencies for generating delusions.  If the tendencies to generate delusions no longer exist on the mind then it is impossible for the person to ever generate delusions and then, yes, they would attain actual liberation.  These tendencies to generate delusions are what are known as the delusion obstructions. The other contaminated karma on the mind is known as the obstructions to omniscience. If somebody purifies all of the delusion obstructions, they do not have to purify all the obstructions to omniscience to never again take a samsaric rebirth. However, this other contaminated karma does prevent the attainment of enlightenment and the attainment of the omniscient mind of a Buddha.

The point of this discussion it’s not just to understand the mechanics of samsara but to arrive at the conclusion that the only way to attain even individual liberation is to realize the emptiness that is the lack of true existence. In particular we need to realize the emptiness of the mind that stores all of this karma. At a minimum, it is only by fully and directly realizing emptiness that we can prevent any delusions from arising ever again. When we attain the path of seeing, which is a direct realization of emptiness conjoined with the mind of tranquil abiding, we eliminate all of our intellectually formed delusions. We then continue to meditate on the path of meditation and eventually purify all of our delusion obstructions. We then continue further to meditate on emptiness on the path of meditation with a bodhicitta motivation and then we can purify the obstructions to omniscience and attain enlightenment.

(9.47) The principal holders of Buddhadharma were said to be those who have attained nirvana, the Arhats;
But the Arhats that you proponents of things assert
Cannot be real Arhats because, according to your view,
Their minds still grasp at truly existent things.

It is important that we do not misinterpret these verses as a criticism of other traditions.  Anything that takes people in the direction of enlightenment is wonderful as far as we are concerned.  For us, since we understand that the ignorance of self-grasping is the root of samsara, it is only natural that the wisdom that realizes its emptiness is necessary for complete liberation.  We can encourage people in their own paths, in particular Christian ones, and perhaps later we can explain how to fully unite with God by realizing his emptiness.  But at the same time, we can have confidence that with the wisdom realizing emptiness, we can bring all of our suffering to an end. 

While understanding we do not criticize or undermine the faith in other people’s traditions, it is nonetheless helpful for ourselves to realize that even though this proponents of the lower schools or other religions are kindhearted and well intentioned, there is no actual liberation from samsara without realizing emptiness. This does not mean these other traditions cannot have their holy beings, it means that either their holy beings have not attained actual liberation from samsara despite thinking that they have, or that the followers of those holy beings do not understand the view that was taught by their holy beings.

In this context, the Hinayana scriptures were written by the Arhats, or those who have attained liberation. The Prasangikas agree that these Arhats did indeed attain liberation, therefore they must have realized the emptiness that is the lack of true existence of all phenomena. It is simply their followers who do not understand the final view realized by their own spiritual Masters.  

(9.48a) (Proponent of things) “They attained nirvana, or liberation, and became Arhats because they abandoned their delusions.”

The proponents of things say that the Arhats did attain liberation because they abandoned their delusions.  To attain liberation, we simply need to abandon our delusions. Therefore, they say we do not need to realize the emptiness the Prasangikas teach.

(9.48bcd) You seem to think that, simply by abandoning manifest delusions, one immediately becomes an Arhat;
But it is clear that even though a person might have temporarily abandoned manifest delusions,
Nevertheless, he or she still bears the karmic potentials to be reborn in samsara.

Shantideva agrees that it is possible to reduce all of our delusions other than the ignorance of self-grasping through the teachings of the lower schools. The people who follow these teachings will abandon their attachment, anger, jealousy, and so forth. And so externally it will appear as if they have no delusions. Shantideva is saying that is not enough. The reason why is such beings will still have on their mind the contaminated karmic tendencies to grasp at inherent existence and to generate all of the other types of delusions. And so while temporarily such beings may appear to not have any delusions, they still have on their mind the karmic seeds for generating future delusions, therefore they have not actually escaped from samsara.

According to the Prasangikas, our mind possesses two obstructions. The first is the delusion obstructions, the second is the obstructions to omniscience. Once we have removed the delusion obstructions from our mind, we attain individual liberation. Once we have removed both the delusion obstructions and the obstructions to omniscience, then we attain full enlightenment. The delusion obstructions are not simply manifest delusions arising in our mind. The delusion obstructions are the contaminated karmic tendencies on our mind to generate delusions. The result of following the teachings of the lower schools may lead to the temporary cessation of manifest delusions arising in our mind, but it is not sufficient to actually uproot and purify our mind of the delusion obstructions themselves. We can only do this by realizing the emptiness of our mind itself. Therefore, if we want to never generate delusions again and truly attain liberation from samsara, we must realize the emptiness that is the lack of true existence.

Because they do not understand its profundity,
The Vaibhashika schools deny the Mahayana;
And because they do not believe in nirvana,
Some non-Buddhist schools deny the Hinayana.

Here Shantideva makes two general points. The first is our not understanding something is not a valid basis for saying that it is not a valid teaching. We probably do not hold onto the Hinayana objections to the Mahayana scriptures, but we do quite often reject instructions we do not understand. In fact we do this all the time, usually because we misunderstand what the instruction is saying but assume that the misunderstanding is what is being taught and therefore we reject the instruction based upon a misunderstanding. Or sometimes we give in to the laziness of discouragement where things are difficult and so we give up bothering to try, and in an effort to rationalize our giving up we say that we don’t need this anyways. Middle school students do this all the time with respect to pretty much every subject. They say I will never need this, therefore they don’t need to learn this. The truth is because the subject is hard and they don’t want to do the work, they come up with a rationalization as to why they shouldn’t bother doing so.

The second general point Shantideva makes is just because someone else disagrees with an instruction within our tradition does not mean we ourselves should doubt that instruction. Very often when we hear others disagreeing with parts of our tradition we then generate doubts about those specific instructions, but when other traditions seem to confirm or teach something similar to what is taught in our tradition we take greater confidence in it and think that therefore it is valid and reliable. This is quite common. But Shantideva is pointing out that that is not a valid basis for rejecting a Dharma instruction. If we only believe the instructions that everybody agreed with then those instructions probably would not be very helpful anyways because they would be reflective of deluded ways of thinking that dominate our modern society.

Buddha’s purpose in teaching both the Mahayana and the Hinayana
Was to lead living beings to permanent liberation from the cycle of suffering.
Focusing on this ultimate aim, practitioners of both the Mahayana and the Hinayana
Emphasize the three higher trainings of moral discipline, concentration, and wisdom.

(9.45) Buddha gave his teachings as medicine to cure the disease of the delusions, the cause of all suffering.
Some of his teachings are simple and others are very profound.
If you do not understand his higher, more profound teachings,
You should not simply conclude that they were not taught by Buddha.

(9.46) The great Master Kashyapa gathered many of Buddha’s teachings,
Principally the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras,
Buddha’s Mahayana teachings.
However, the Vaibhashika schools do not understand the profound meaning of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras;
Thus, they conclude that these Sutras are not Buddha’s teachings.

Here, Shantideva makes the point that Buddha gave different instructions according to the different capacities of living beings. As we are reading through the different Dharma books or attending Dharma teachings, we might hear some instructions which seem completely beyond our capacity. What should we do when this happens? Geshe-la explains in How to Transform your Life that there is no fault in setting aside certain instructions for later when they do seem relevant. For example, for the longest time I did not engage in any completion stage meditations. Every time I heard the instructions or read the books, I thought well that’s interesting, but I didn’t actually ever do anything with the instructions. But now that I’ve started engaging in completion stage meditations, I am ble to go back and revisit things that I learned long ago and try learn how to actually put them into practice.

In the same way, when we encounter instructions that seem beyond our present capacity, we should not feel like we need to force ourselves to learn and understand those things or put them into practice right now. We should focus our efforts on those instructions which seem to us to be of the greatest benefit for where we are actually at in our spiritual development.

(9.40ab) (Hinayanist) “Since we can attain liberation by gaining a direct realization of the four noble truths,
What is the point of striving to realize emptiness, lack of true existence?”

Realizing the emptiness of the Prasangikas is hard. Further, our ignorance will come up with all sorts of excuses as to why we do not actually have to realize emptiness. For example, we are often very happy to read Dharma books about love, compassion, our precious human life and so forth. But the idea of picking up Ocean of Nectar and studying intricate debates about emptiness seems a daunting task to say the least. We get lost and we do not see the point, and just like we did with math while we were in school, we think we will never need this so why bother trying?

Here, the Hinayanists are doing the same thing. They are saying we merely seek to attain individual liberation, and Buddha explained we can do so through realizing the Four Noble Truths, so why should we bother listening to all you Prasangikas babble on about lack of true existence and the nonexistence of self-cognizers and so forth? 

What are the Four Noble Truths? The first is true suffering, which means recognizing that we are trapped within samsara. The second is true origins, which means understanding the root of our suffering in samsara, namely delusions. The third is true cessations, which refers to the cessation of true origins within our mind. And the fourth is true paths, which is the method for attaining true cessations.

(9.40cd) It is necessary because the scriptures explain that without the path of wisdom realizing this emptiness,
It is impossible to attain even the small enlightenment of self-liberation.

The Prasangika answer to this objection is the wisdom realizing the emptiness of inherent existence is implied within the Four Noble Truths.  For Prasangikas, the source of all delusions is the ignorance grasping at inherent existence. And true cessations are realizing that all of the things that we normally see do not exist at all. This is attained through true paths, which are meditations on the correct view of emptiness. Without realizing emptiness, it is not possible to eliminate all of our delusions, and therefore escape from samsara. Thus, even to attain individual liberation of a Hinayanist requires realizing emptiness.

The basis for this view comes from the Mahayana scriptures explaining emptiness.  

(9.41-4) (Hinayanist) “Because we do not believe in the Mahayana, your quoting from Mahayana scriptures is pointless.”

The Hinayanist objection to the Prasangikas saying emptiness is implicit within the Four Noble Truths is the basis for the Prasangika view is the Mahayana scriptures. But the Hinayanists reject the Mahayana scriptures as being actually taught by Buddha, so therefore they say quoting from them is pointless.

We both believe that the Hinayana scriptures are valid;
So you should apply your reasons for believing the Hinayana equally to the Mahayana.
Thus, we understand that both are the holy Dharma taught by Buddha himself.

First of all, in the real world we would never try to disagree with someone who follows another path. If their path works for them, then we are happy for them, even if they reject our own path. We do not need to convert anybody to the mahayana view, but we are happy to clarify points if someone is actually open minded. If they are not open minded then we just leave them to their path and that’s it.

In this context, we are assuming that the person we are speaking with is a Buddhist and is open minded about the possibility of mahayana scriptures, and so therefore we simply ask the questions to try overcome their doubts. But in the context of our own individual contemplation of Shantideva’s guide, we should recognize all the objections as doubts we may have within our own mind. Perhaps we ourselves doubt whether the mahayana or the vajrayana or the ganden oral lineage and so forth was actually taught by Buddha. This may cause is to doubt the authenticity of the instructions that we receive.

Shantideva’s answer to the Hinayana’s objection is they should apply whatever is the criteria they use for assessing the validity of the Hinayana scriptures to assessing whether the Mahayana scriptures are also valid. It is fair to say if the criteria is good enough for their scriptures then that same criteria should be good enough for evaluating other scriptures.

(9.38ab) (Other schools) “But if Buddha has no conceptual mind,
How can there be meritorious results from making offerings to him?”

The objection of the other schools here is if buddhas do not have conceptual minds then they do not know they are receiving our offerings and indeed there is no one there so how can we possibly generate merit by making offerings to a non-existent Buddha who does not know we’re doing so?

(9.38cd) It is said in the scriptures that the results will be the same
Whether the Buddha to whom we make offerings is living or has passed away.

(9.39) Moreover, the scriptures say that the results we receive depend upon our degree of faith,
Whether we think Buddha is conventionally or ultimately existent when we make the offerings.
Just as you receive merits from making offerings to a Buddha you consider to be truly existent,
So do we receive merits from making offerings to an illusion-like Buddha.

In Joyful Path, Geshe-la says whenever we visualize Buddha in front of us, our mind becomes like water on a clear moonlit night, and the Buddhas appear in front of us without effort, like a reflection in that body of water.  Very often we think the Buddhas have to make the choice to help us and when we are not receiving benefit, we think they are holding back.  But they are more like the sun, and our mind is like the blinds closed.  If we create the right conditions, the guidance and blessings of the Buddhas will naturally flow in without any intention or effort on their part.

The objection of the other schools arises from falling into the extreme of non-existence. There are two extremes: the extreme of existence and the extreme of non-existence. The extreme of existence says that if things exist, they must exist inherently, from their own side. The extreme of non-existence says if things do not exist inherently, then they do not exist at all. For the other schools if everything is empty, then buddhas do not exist at all. Therefore, we cannot possibly accumulate merit making offerings to a non-existent Buddha. Likewise, they misunderstand non conceptual thought as no thought and no awareness. It is perfectly possible to have non conceptual thought and awareness. Therefore, buddhas do exist and receive our offerings. There are non-conceptual minds are aware of receiving our offerings.

We can understand how this works by considering dreams. We all know that dreams are simply mere projections of our mind. But when we are in the dream our dream coat keeps our dream body warm. Our dream car can take our dream body from one dream place to another dream place. Within the context of the dream, things have dreamlike functions. Our self and buddhas are like dreams. When our dreamlike self makes dreamlike offerings to dreamlike buddhas, it creates dreamlike karma that will ripen in the form of dreamlike appearances. No problem.

We now enter into the third major section of Shantideva’s 9th chapter explaining emptiness. If we look at the macro level structure of Shantideva’s explanation, it is we need to realize emptiness, here is a presentation of the two truths. We really need to realize emptiness, here is an extensive explanation of emptiness. Then yet more encouragement that we need to realize emptiness. The third section of Shantideva’s chapter is once again encouraging us to realize emptiness.

We may find this somewhat redundant. Why does he need to keep telling us that we need to realize emptiness? He does so because we often forget that we need to realize emptiness, so we need constantly to be reminded. But more specifically, there are different objections people make as to why we do not need to realize the emptiness presented by the Prasangikas in order to attain enlightenment. These objections say there is no point realizing the emptiness that the Prasangikas explaine, so why bother engaging in study and debate. To overcome these specific objections, he then provides answers.

Shantideva now explains that even to attain liberation or solitary peace, one must realize lack of true existence, the emptiness that is the lack of true existence.

The doubt can arise how can realizing emptiness bestow upon us the abilities of a Buddha to help each and every living being? It seems that if we simply realized that we are empty, then we are no longer able to actually do anything. Further, we can have the doubt that if we no longer have any conceptual minds, then we can no longer think anything so therefore buddhas cannot do anything. How, then, can Buddhas help once anyone has achieved this resultant state, how is it possible to help living beings?  How can living beings benefit from those who have achieved this state if all conceptuality has ceased and there are no longer any conceptual thoughts?  Shantideva goes on to say:

(9.35) Just as wish-fulfilling jewels and wish-granting trees fulfil the hopes of humans and gods
Even though they have no conceptual mind,
So, through the force of the prayers they previously made and the merit accumulated by fortunate beings,
Buddhas manifest physical forms in this world.

(9.36) For example, although the Brahmin who consecrated
The substance in the reliquary known as the “Garuda”
Has long since passed away,
The reliquary continues to alleviate poisons and so forth.

(9.37) In a similar fashion, a Bodhisattva, while training on the path,
Creates the “reliquary” of a Buddha through his collections of merit and wisdom;
And, although he eventually passes beyond sorrow,
He continues to bestow both temporary and ultimate benefits upon all living beings.

This is absolutely one of my favorite analogies in the Dharma. Gen Tharchin explains that we design our own enlightenment on the basis of the pure wishes we generate as bodhisattvas. For example, Avalokiteshvara generated the special wish to help living beings generate compassion. Tara generated the specific wish to help practitioners of lamrim. Manjushri generated specific wish wishes to help people develop their wisdom, and so forth.

In exactly the same way, we need to design our future enlightenment. What kind of Buddha do we want to become? What are the specific skills and abilities we want to have as a Buddha to be able to help others in the future? For example, Gen Samten has epilepsy. As a result, he generated the wish to become a Buddha who has the ability to help others with neurological diseases in the future. When he becomes a Buddha, his blessings will specifically function to help people with such problems.

In a similar way, the specific beings with whom we have a close karmic relationship while we are bodhisattvas will be the beings with whom we have a special karmic connection to be able to lead to enlightenment. For example, Gen Tharchin was on retreat and he told Geshe-la that if he remained on retreat he would soon attain enlightenment. Geshe-la then told him it was time for him to leave his retreat because if he attained enlightenment he would become a “useless Buddha” because he had very few karmic connections with other living beings. He then sent Tharchin out to go teach, which he did in many different countries developing karmic connections with thousands of Kadampas. We now have close karma with him, and as a result we will be able to receive his special blessings when he attains enlightenment. In this way, through the pure intentions we generate as a bodhisattva and the karmic connections we create with other living beings while we are on the path, we shape the type of Buddha we will become and who we will be able to help. This is our spiritual reliquary.

We have all had many examples where we wished for something, and that wish later ripened once all of the other causes and conditions came together. In the same way, if we generate the wish to be able to help living beings in certain ways, when all of the other causes and conditions come together, we will become a Buddha who has this specific ability. The pure wishes we previously generated planted karma on our mind which then ripened in the form of us having these abilities.

The easiest way to understand the reliquary of a Buddha is to consider spaceships. There is no friction in outer space.  If you set an object in motion in outer space it will keep going forever because there is no friction to slow it down. A short period of thrust will then cause the spaceship to remain in motion forever. In exactly the same way, contaminated karma is like friction for the mind. If we purify our mind of all contaminated karma, we eliminate all of the friction within our mind. Then any thought that we put in motion can remain in motion forever. For example if Gen Samten puts the thought that he wants to be able to become a Buddha to help all of those with neurological diseases attain enlightenment in his mind, and he purifies his mind of all karmic friction, then that pure thought of becoming a Buddha with those special abilities will remain in motion forever. Then any and all beings who have neurological diseases will eventually come into contact with him and he will spontaneously emanate and appear in whatever forms are necessary to help those beings overcome their particular problems. All Buddhas work in exactly the same way.

But this does not answer the question of how a Buddha is able to continue to help living beings after they attain enlightenment if they have only non-conceptual minds?  Can buddhas create new karma? Or do they gradually become increasingly irrelevant overtime as the beings with whom they have a close karmic connection either attain enlightenment or become more karmically distant?  If becoming a Buddha means we can no longer generate new karma with living beings and we eventually become impotent because the karma we previously created exhausts itself, then it would make sense to not become a Buddha because that would limit our ability to help others. It would be better to remain forever a bodhisattva. So clearly that could not be the case.

Buddhas can create new karma, they simply cannot create contaminated karma. Because their minds are free from delusions, they can no longer create contaminated karma with living beings. But that does not them from prevent them from creating pure karma with living beings. They do not need conceptual minds to do that because they can use their non-conceptual minds to do so.  

It is really worth considering how the reliquary works.  We make intentions to perpetually become ourselves whatever living beings need.  When this fully ripens, we spontaneously give to others without having to generate anew the conceptual intention to do it.  We can understand this with pure view.  We practice pure view at 50%, then 75%, then 99%, then 100%.  From that point forward, our view and our action collapse into one and we become like a spaceship sent into space without gravity that continues perpetually without new fuel being needed.  Our inner realizations dedicated to others are our real reliquary, and it is this we need to construct within our own mind.

(9.32) By developing acquaintance with the view of emptiness,
We shall eventually abandon grasping at true existence;
And especially by meditating on the emptiness of emptiness,
We shall come to abandon grasping at emptiness itself as being truly existent.

Like all things in the Dharma it is just a question of familiarity. The more we acquaint our mind with the view of emptiness, realizing that the things that we normally see do not exist, then the hold appearances have over us will weaken and weaken until eventually they no longer trigger delusions within us.

True existence here refers to objects existing in the way in which they appear. Objects appear to exist from their own side independent of our mind as something that is real and actually there. The view of emptiness directly counters this by establishing that objects are in fact mirror projections of our mind. There is nothing actually there, there is simply an appearance of something being there. It is like in the Wizard of Oz when Toto pulled back the curtain and revealed that the wizard was nothing more than a frumpy old man. Even though the appearances of the great and powerful oz were still appearing, Dorothy understood that it was all just an illusion, and her fear, which was palpable before, completely disappeared. She saw through the illusion. Even though it appears, it no longer triggered fear in her mind. In exactly the same way, when we understand that the things we normally see do not exist, even though they will still appear to us they will no longer have any power to generate delusions in our mind.

Here, Shantideva also points out the importance of realizing the emptiness of emptiness itself. Sometimes, we realize that phenomena are just like illusions but we still think the emptiness we realize truly exists, somehow independently of all phenomena. This is of course ludicrous. Emptiness does not exist on its own, independent of the objects that are empty. We cannot speak of emptiness on its own, rather we can only speak of the emptiness of something. For example the emptiness of our body, the emptiness of our car, and so forth.

If we grasp at emptiness as existing on its own, independent of or somehow behind all phenomena, then realizing emptiness will not completely uproot all of our innate delusions. It will help, but it won’t be enough. The reason for this is because our mind will still have a gap between our mind and the object we are trying to realize, emptiness. The emptiness we will realize still seems to be something separate from us, and therefore our mind does not mix with it completely.

This is why the Tantra Prasangika view is so powerful. The Tantra Prasangika view is the union of the Chittamatrin view and the Prasangika view. The Chittamatrins say that all phenomena are the nature of mind. The Prasangikas then say that the mind itself is empty. By realizing the emptiness of the mind directly, we realize the emptiness of all phenomena indirectly since all phenomena are aspects of the mind.

Since all of our contaminated karma is stored on our very subtle mind, by realizing the emptiness of our very subtle mind we uproot all of the contaminated karma stored on it. With one single concentration, we therefore purify all of the contaminated karma we have accumulated since beginningless time. If we had to go through and realize the emptiness of each and every phenomena individually, it would take forever because there are countless different phenomena that could appear to our mind. But if we realize the emptiness of our mind and we realize that all phenomena are aspects of our mind, then we can realize the emptiness of all phenomena indirectly by realizing the emptiness of our mind directly.

(9.33) When it is said that “No thing exists”,
This means that truly existent things do not exist;
So how could a mind grasping at the true existence of that emptiness remain
When the basis for such a misconception – grasping at true existence – has been removed?

(9.34) Eventually, when the true existence of things and the true existence of emptiness
No longer appear to the mind,
Since there is no other aspect of true existence,
The mind will abide in the resultant pacified state in which all conceptuality has ceased.

When we gain the realization by meditating on the emptiness of emptiness, there will no longer be any dualistic appearance and we will experience the union of bliss and emptiness that is the resultant pacified state in which all conceptuality has ceased.  We will realize directly our own mind – both its conventional and its ultimate nature.  In Mahamudra Tantra, the instructions lead us to this realization.  In Mahamudra Tantra the very first stage in which we identify our mind, our own mind is actually our root mind, our very subtle mind, in the first stage we identify our mind as having the nature of clarity, just as we meditated previously. 

But then we go on to identify the subtle mind as having the nature of the cessation of all gross minds. The nature of the cessation of all gross minds, such as our present conceptual minds.  Then finally we identify our very subtle mind as having the nature of bliss.  Then, with this mind, we meditate on emptiness.  Bliss is the conventional nature of our mind, emptiness is its ultimate nature, and we see these two as the same nature, one entity.