A. The Meaning of the Title

1. In Sanskrit: dharmadharmatavibhagakarika.
In Tibetan: chös dang chös nyid nam par ‘byed pa’i tsig le’ur byas pa.

This text is an exposition of the Dharmadharmatavibhaga in Sanskrit or Distinguishing Dharma and Dharmata. The word dharma means “phenomena” and dharmata means “pure phenomena.” This treatise or shastra was given by the Regent of the Victorious One, Maitreya and is known as one of The Five Treatises of Maitreya. These treatises by Maitreya are important Buddhist texts of the Middle-way (Skt. Madhyamaka) and learned scholars of India and Tibet have debated the meaning of these texts in great detail and at length.

How This Text Was Written

There is a Tibetan scholar named Kanga Tsultrim who wrote a book in which he argued that this text did not come from the Buddha Maitreya but by a human being whose name was Maitreyanatha and that Asanga received this text from him. My own opinion is simply that this person is overly involved with logic and has no confidence in dharma and no confidence in the existence of the pure realm of Tushita where Asanga received Maitreya’s teachings. So he wrote this from the point of view of having little faith and confidence in the dharma. However, Maitreya did give these texts directly to Asanga. He taught them explicitly and that is well known to a great many panditas and siddhas who have also received such a direct transmission of knowledge. In fact, Asanga went to the heaven of Tushita and received this text from Maitreya.

At the time of Asanga, the principal place for the study of the dharma in India was the Nalanda monastic university. A short time previous to Asanga’s birth a great fire had broken out at Nalanda and destroyed many books, in particular, the texts of the Abhidharma. It was not possible to repair that damage right away so a nun called Tsawai Tsultrim thought, “I won’t be able to refurbish and spread this teaching by myself. I could, however, give up the nun’s life and give birth to sons who would be able to study these teachings, that would allow for the restoration of the Abhidharma teachings.” She did so and gave birth to two sons: Asanga, whose father came from royalty, and Vasubhandu, whose father came from the Brahmin cast. These brothers spread the Buddhist teaching widely and, in particular, the teachings of the Abhidharma.

According to the tradition of the time, a son took up the work that his father had done. So at a certain point, the two sons of the former nun Tsawai Tsultrim asked her, “Who are our fathers? What work do they do? We want to prepare for the work that our fathers do.” The mother replied to them, “Taking up the livelihood of your father is not the purpose of your being here, rather the purpose for your being here is to train in the Abhidharma teachings. A great deal of harm has come to these teachings and they have been damaged and have practically disappeared. So that they won’t disappear completely, you need to study and teach them. That is the reason why you are here.”

The younger son, Vasubhandu, went to study with a Kashmiri teacher called Gendün Tsabmo and received the teachings on the Abhidharma of the lesser vehicle or the Hinayana, which is often now called the Theravada tradition. There is also the greater vehicle or Mahayana and the views and teachings of the Mahayana go further than the Hinayana. For that reason, the elder son, Asanga, practiced meditation diligently trying to meet Maitreya so that he would be able to spread these very profound teachings of the Mahayana. Eventually Asanga was able to meet Maitreya and returned to the central country and spread the teachings there.

So the two sons did what their mother had requested of them. Asanga went into retreat and practiced for twelve years to achieve a direct transmission from Maitreya. During these twelve years he endured much hardship. On several occasions he became discouraged and lost confidence and broke his retreat only to return to it again. However, arousing his confidence and courage again, he was able to continue his practice for twelve years and at the end he met face-to-face with the Maitreya Buddha. He then went to Tushita with Maitreya and there listened to the oral instructions of the Maitreya Buddha. From listening to these oral instructions, Asanga received what are known as The Five Works or Treatises of Maitreya. This text known as Distinguishing Dharma and Dharmata is one of these five texts.

Mahamudra

Generally speaking, Tibet is renowned throughout the world as being the home of the secret mantra Vajrayana teachings. However, not only was the Vajrayana taught in Tibet, but the Mahayana dharma was also studied and practiced. With the Vajrayana being widely practiced in Tibet, meditation was also practiced. With regard to meditation, there are the particular traditions, the views and practices of Mahamudra or the “great symbol” and Dzogchen or “great completeness.” However, what is the basis from which such dharma arose? It is the sutras or the teachings of the Buddha and the shastras or the commentaries that were composed in India by the great scholars and accomplished persons. In order to achieve this very high view of Mahamudra and Dzogchen, we need to cut our own doubt in order to eliminate hindrances of falling into various sorts of errors or aberrations. What helps in eliminating our doubt, hindrances, and errors is to listen to and contemplate the Mahayana dharma.

However, just studying and contemplating the dharma of the Mahayana is not enough. We need the experience of meditation to truly realize this dharma. Also we need to achieve the fruit quickly. In order to accomplish such experience and realization, and to do so quickly, we require the oral instructions of Mahamudra or Dzogchen. Without these it is impossible to achieve the profound experience and the completion of Mahamudra in a rapid manner. Therefore, an introduction to Mahamudra or Dzogchen is of great importance.

The Shastras

When it came to practice in Tibet, the practice of the panditas and adepts was that of the secret mantra Vajrayana. However, the teachings they heard and thought about were those of the Mahayana. Therefore, we need to listen to and contemplate the Mahayana teachings. In terms of what the Buddha-dharma comprises, it is twofold: there are the actual words spoken directly by the Buddha, which are recorded in the sutras, and there are the commentaries called shastras that were composed by the scholars on the meaning of these sutras. Of these two, the treatises or shastras are more important. There are many who feel that the way in which the Tibetan tradition has taken the shastras to be more important is a mistake. They say, “The root of the Buddha’s tradition is the Buddha himself and therefore one ought to take his words (the sutras) to be the main material to be studied.”

The reason the commentaries are of greater importance than the sutras is that the Buddha presented the teachings like this: A student would come to him and ask a question and the Buddha would give a reply. Some pupils came to the Buddha with faith, devotion, intelligence, the desire to practice, and asked their questions from that point of view. Others had little faith, devotion or great yearning for the dharma and would ask questions and the Buddha would give different answers to these students according to their attitude or disposition. Thus, with the Buddha’s speech there is the definitive teachings (Tib. ngedön) and there are the provisional teachings or teachings that would require interpretation (Tib. drangdon). If the Buddha were to give those without much faith and devotion the definitive teachings, they wouldn’t have confidence in it. So, the Buddha gave them something else to think about; rather than giving them the actual or definitive teaching he gave them the provisional teachings.

So, if we were to read the sutras directly, we would make the mistake of taking a definitive teaching for being a provisional teaching or of taking a provisional teaching for being a definitive teaching. We would not know how to sort them out and figure out which one is which. Fortunately, after the Buddha’s presentation of the dharma, many scholars with their own higher intelligence (Skt. prajna), their own experience, understood which from among the teachings were the definitive teachings and which were the provisional teachings. They wrote treatises differentiating the definitive from the provisional teachings. This is the reason why the shastras are more important, than the sutras.

Among the shastras or treatises, there are two types: the shastras themselves and the oral instructions. The shastras themselves approach various topics through reasoning and explain in detail and with great clarity topics such as the five aggregates (Skt. skandhas), the twelve sense fields (Skt. ayatana) and the eighteen elements (Skt. dhatu). These topics are principally presented in long analytical treatises. The oral instructions (Tib. dag nag) tell us how to practice by presenting instructions in a very brief way. Of these two, the shastras and the oral instructions, the oral instructions are more important.

Among the five treatises of Maitreya, four books are classed as shastras proper and one falls into the class of oral instructions. The four that are shastras are very extensive. They are Ornament of Clear Realization (Skt. Abhisamayalankara), the Ornament of the Mahayana Sutras (Skt. Mahayanasutralankara), Distinguishing the Middle from the Extremes (Skt. Madhyantavibhaga) and The Changeless Nature (Skt. Uttaratantra). The present text Distinguishing Dharma and Dharmata is very brief and direct in its presentation and is included within the class of oral instructions. Thus, for those who have faith and are exerting themselves in practice, the oral instructions are more important than the shastras.

How is it that Distinguishing Dharma and Dharmata is an oral instruction? Generally speaking, in mediation there is, as mentioned, Mahamudra and Dzogchen and within meditation there is the practice of Shamatha and Vipashyana. Between these two, in the context of Mahamudra and Dzogchen, it is Vipashyana or insight meditation that is mainly practiced. This is because we are introduced to the true nature (Tib. nge lug) of the mind. In Mahamudra and Dzogchen, by examining the mind directly we abandon the disturbing emotions and reach Buddhahood. In the sutra teachings, this profound nature is spoken of as dharmata or “nature of phenomena.” In the context of mantra, it is called sem (“mind-nature”).

It is just this nature of phenomena or mind’s nature that is to be known. We must understand this through hearing and thinking about it. Nevertheless, ordinary people are not able to realize it directly. What is the reason for that? We are obstructed by conventional appearances. Due to conventional appearances we are not able to realize the dharma-nature or mind-nature. If we are able to realize this profound nature, then we will naturally separate from these confused, concealing or conventional sorts of appearances. Thus, this text, Distinguishing Dharma and Dharmata, is devoted to identifying and distinguishing just exactly what the conventional appearances or conventional truths are, and just exactly what the ultimate truth (the nature of phenomena or the ultimate enduring condition) is. So, this treatise is extremely important for those who wish to practice the meditations of Mahamudra and Dzogchen.

This treatise, Distinguishing Dharma and Dharmata, was composed many generations ago. For that reason, if someone just picks it up and tries to understand it, it can be difficult to understand. After all, it is rather dissimilar from the kinds of books that we are familiar with in the present time and this makes it difficult to understand. However, given that a very great bodhisattva presented the teaching, it is not incomprehensible and there is great benefit from having understood it. So, if we put forward exertion and approach it with longing and respect, then we can indeed understand it. In particular, those in Western countries have trained from a very young age in a variety of studies and have developed their intelligence and ability to reason well. Therefore, you will be able to understand this text clearly. Having understood it clearly and having developed confidence in what you have understood, if you then bring that into the practice of meditation, it will be of great benefit.

Understanding this text will be beneficial to those who have not yet given birth to meditation by arousing a desire to meditate. For those who have already given birth to meditation, it will help to give certainty, confidence, knowledge and stability in the meditation. For those who already have these qualities, it will allow these qualities to increase. Therefore, from whatever point of view you approach this teaching, it will be beneficial and extremely important.

© Namo Buddha & Zhyisil Chokyi Ghatsal Publications