A Preliminary Research On The Lam Rim

Lam Rim (Stages of the Path) is one of the most influential theories and pratice systems in the history of Tibetan Buddhism. Its full name is Byang Chub Lam Rim (stages of the path to enlightenment). Here, the Byang Chub means complete enlightment. Therefore, Byang Chub Lam Rim really means stages of the path to complete enlightenment. This theory is constructed on the basis of another one, namly, Tri-purusa (Three Types of person). Tri-purusa include the beginner, the intermediate and the advanced. Among them, the beginner only care about pleasure of the present life, the intermediate persist in self s release from rebirth, and the advanced devote themselves into the cause of the release of all people. Accorded with Tri-purusa, the knowledge of Buddhism is divided into three branches: knowledge for the beginner, for the intemediate, and for the advanced. The Theory of Lam Rim insists that these three branches of knowledge have a close relationship with each other, they belong to same an integrety, stand for three stages of path to enlightment, and are orderly named the path for the beginner, the path for the intermediate, and the path for the advanced. Also, the thory requires that all Buddhism-practitioners must abide by this order, and conduct practice gradually.Lam Rim was firstly putted forward by Atisa who lived in the earlier period of the Later Propogation of Tibetan Buddhism. Afterwards, the followers of Bgar-gdam-pa and Dge-lugs-pa (yellow sect) succeeded and developed it. Tsong-kha-pa, The founder of the Dge-lugs-pa, developed it especialy, and brought it to the maximum. When Dge-lugs-pa defeated other sects and became the leader of the Tibetan Buddhism, the theory naturally surpassed others and developed into the mainstream. Besides Bgar-gdam-pa and Dge-lugs-pa, other sects also had some relationships with Lam Rim, they have directly or indirectly absorbed the good ingredients included in Lam Rim. Moreover, Lam Rim also influenced other fields, as well as the relegious field. So we can drawn a conclusion: Lam Rim had a wide-and-deep influense on Tibetan society in the past. It is because of this that we can't circumvent Lam Rim when we study the Tibetan Buddhism. Having previous studies as ground, this dissertation conducts research on Lam Rim in three levels.Firstly, the research on the whole. AtisVs Theory of Lam Rim had its origins in the history of Buddhism. In retrospect, it is easy to see not only Nagarjuna and Aryadeva's Madhyamika (middle-way school) but also Asanga and Vasubandhu's Cittamatrin (mind-only school) both had the thought of graduate practice. Apart from them, Santideva's theory also played a active part. Besides, Tsong-kha-pa especialy specified the Maitreya's theory, and took it as the direct origin of Lam Rim. In a word, only with a broad intake of theories of the same kind from predecessors, Atisa could bring out his theory of Lam Rim. After Atisa, preachers of Lam Rim was divided into six branches, and thier theories were concentrated by Tsong-kha-pa at last. Owing to Tsong-kha-pa's emphasis on it, Lam Rim was regarded as the principal theory by Dge-lugs-pa. After Tsong-kha-pa, the preachers of Lam Rim was divided again. One of brances was the so-called "Dbus-rgyudv(propagation in the central area) represented by Talai 5th and with his work Manjusri's Teaching as the basic canon , the other was the so-called "Gtsang-rgyud" (propagation in the Gtsang area) represented by Pan-chen 4th and with his work Pleasant Way as the basic canon .Although Lam Rim of Bgar-gdam-pa and Dge-lugs-pa had same origin, the difference between them was obvious: The former had several guides, at the same time, the latter had only a guid. The Dissertation also introduces some masterpieces of Lam Rim briefly.As the ground fo Lam Rim, the Theory of Tri-purusa is another topic worthy of our attention. There is a structural coincidence between Tri-purusa and the voices of Sanskrit, this fact siginifies that thinking pattern behind the voices of Sanskrit maybe is an important prerequisite for Tri-purusa. In the field of Buddhism, however, Asanga and Vasubandhu should be looked as the earliest advocators of Tri-purusa. Before the Atisa, Tri-purusa and the thought of gradual practice was separated from each other,and only from Atisa on, they were put into one system. In fact, Lam Rim is a mixure of Tri-purusa and gradual-practice thought. With the development of Lam Rim, Tri-purusa was developed. The dissertation points out, during the process of the development of Lam Rim, some new concepts such as "Path for Tri-purusa" and "Common Path" were created, they can expressed the meanings of Lam Rim more accurately.Lam Rim is a practice system of the Buddhism ,as well as a theory. Listening to guru's preaching is the firsh step,and then, Buddhists could start practice. To some extent, the history of Lam Rim is the one of preaching-listening-practicing of Lam Rim. About this subject, the dissertation mainly talks about following topics: occassions of Lam Rim-propagation, classical basis of Lam Rim-propagation, ways of Lam Rim-propagation, practice ways under the guide of Lam Rim, and the relationship between Lam Rim and "Five Classics". At the beganning ofthe 20th century, the prosperity of Tibetan Buddhism appealed to some people who cherished the ambition of rennovation when faced with the endangerded Han-Buddhism. After careful study, the rennovators attributed the prosperity to Lam Rim, and Lam Rim became the object studied and imitated by Han-Buddhism from then on. The dissertation has a chapter for this subject, and majorly investigats: the time when Lam Rim was dispred in Han-area at first time, the background and reasons under and for which Lam Rim was introduced into Han-area. The chapter also outlines the history of spread of Lam Rim in Han-area.Politics is one of fields which are closely connected with religion, so some theories which have great influence on religion also do the same on politics. The dissertation insists that Lam Rim is the theory of this kind, because it persists in orders and harmony. Specifically spesking, there are four principles in Lam Rim, namly, getting promotion, be content with one's present status, harmony between the upper and the lower, and the rule for the lower by the upper. Oberviously, all these principles can satisfy the political requirments, out of this, Lam Rim often was upheld by rulers, "The System of Ranks" grounded on Lam Rim, in fact, is the official-seletting system of Tibet, therefore, it vividly displays the political meaning of Lam Rim. With Lam Rim as a kind of resources of political thought, Tibetan society have lived in peace relatively; meanwhile, haven't made progress for a long time.Socondly, the research on the case. The object of this section is Tsong-kha-pa's theory of Lam Rim, and topics majorly discussed consist of Lam Rim-relative theoretial questions stressed by Tsong-kha-pa and uniqueness of the Lam Rim of Tsong-kha-pa. Before these topics, the dissertation gives an outline of Tsong-kha-pa's Lam Rim. trie dissertation argues, Tsong-kha-pa's several works about Lam Rim is a system which is the result of deliberation. Undoultedly, Tsong-kiia-pa's " theory of Lam Rim originated from the theory of same kind held bypredecessors of Bkar-gdam-pa, but faced with several brances of Lam Rim ,Tsong-kha-pa didn't regard them equally, he absorbed more from two brances than others. One of them was the brances of Blo-ldan-shes-rab and Gros-lung-ba, the other was the brances of Po-to-pa and Shar-ra-pa. Tsong-kha-pa's theory of Lam Rim was a sum-up of the knowledge of Buddhism in the past,and it took a very important status in the history of Buddhism.The wish for renunciation, the wish for enlightment and the right view were called "Three Principal Aspects of the Path" by Tsong-kha-pa. Judged from their resemble, Bkar-gdam-pa's high attention to mind-practice could be viewed as the harbinger of Three Principal Aspets of the Path. "Common Path" was a another concept Tsong-kha-pa used to express his opinion about the whole knowledge of Buddhism, and it explained the relationship among the different parties of the knowledge of Buddhism. Bkar-gdam-pa such as Shar-ra-pa also used this concept, but only Tsong-kha-pa used it in the field of Tantra. So we can say, Tsong-kha-pa has enriched the meaning of the concept. Taixiu, the leader of Han-Buddhism in the earlier period of 20th century, has the theory alike to "Common Path". This fact made buddhists of Han area accept Tibetan Buddhism more easily. But, Common Path of Tsong-kha-pa and Taixu can not be equated completely. Compared with each other, Tsong-kha-pa's common Path had more interests for Tantra, meanwhile, Taixu's had more care for eight brances of Mahayana, especialy Cittamatrin.Lam Rim of Bkar-gkam-pa enjoys several guides, one of them was selected by Tsong-kha-pa, that is, dependence on dge-bshes (good teacher). In order to understand his decision, the dissortation looks back on Bkar-gdam-pa's attitudes toward dependence on good teacher, and delves in social circumstances of Tsong-kha-pa's times. Tsong-ka-pa had a systematic explanation for dependence on good teacher, later, his successors of Dge-lugs-pa supplied it with explanation for meditation,the dissertation also has some paragraphes for these.In his work Great Exopsition of the Stages of Path to Enlightment, Tsong-kha-pa has detailed his theory of zhi-gnas (calm abiding) and lha-mthong (right view). Resesrchers from different parts of the world already wrotten many articles about this, but there are still some questions need to be expositioned. Tsong-kha-pa held a different attitud toward mngon-par-shes-pa (extraordinary knowledge) from Atisa. As to the reasons for this, the dissertation insists that following factors should be taken into consideration: different attidudes toward extraodinary knowledg in the tradition of Buddhism, different amibience of times, and different theoretical bents of individuals. Tsong-kha-pa upheld Dbu-ma-thal-'gyur-ba (consequence school of Madhyamika), the dissertation regards it as the result of the influences from such factors as: discussions about Madhyamika among Tibetan scholars before Tsong-kha-pa, unlimited greed of Buddhists, and the development of tshad-ma (logics). Tsong-kha-pa not only accepted Madhyamika philosphy of others, but also have his own's. The Madhyamika philosophy of him can be divided into three levels: basic theses, concepts and ways used to exposition and get the basic theses, and the study about the nature of Madhyamika. This Philosophy detered Buddhists from thinking Madhyamika as nihilsm, and had quite an effect on Tibetan Buddhism.At last, as supplementaries, the author of the dissertion translates two Tibetan catalogues of Lam Rim works into Chinese, and suplies readers with a list of works cited by Tsong-kha-pa in Great Exposition of the Stages of the Path to Enlightment. The author hopes these could make a preparation for deeper research.