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Intro to the Hinayana Path |
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by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche |
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Of the three Buddhist vehicles (yana) of practice, the first is the Hinayana. Hinayana literally means lesser vehicle but this term should in no way be a reproach or be construed to diminish the importance of these teachings. In fact, the teachings of the Hinayana are very important because they suit the capacities and development of a great number of students. If it weren’t for these teachings, which are particularly appropriate for those who have limited wisdom or diligence, many persons would never been able to travel the Mahayana path. Without the Hinayana teachings there would be no way for practitioners to enter the dharma because they would not have had a way to enter the Buddhist path. This path is similar to a staircase: the lower step is the first step. This doesn’t mean it is not important or should be ignored because without these lower steps one can never gain access to the upper stories. It should be very clear that this term “lesser” vehicle is in no way a pejorative term. It provides the necessary foundation on which to build. The fundamental teachings of the Hinayana are the main subject matter of the first dharmachakra or turning of the wheel of dharma. These teachings were given mainly in India in the town of Varanasi (Benares). The main subject matter of these teachings is the four noble truths (along with the teachings on interdependent origination, selflessness, impermanence, etc.) <Refer to the teachings on the Four Noble Truths and Four Thoughts that turn mind towards Dharma> Meditation in the Hinayana When one studies the Hinayana, one studies it in the beginning from the viewpoint of intellectual understanding. Then through meditation practice, one investigates the results that emerge. The four noble truths, which are the heart of the Hinayana are the view of the Hinayana. The principle focus of Hinayana practice is the validity of the four noble truths. The actual practice of meditation within the Hinayana is a little bit different from the understanding of the truths themselves. When one understands suffering and its causes, one realizes that as long as one is involved with worldly affairs, one will continue creating the causes of suffering, which means one will be reborn over and over again in this vortex of samsara. Therefore the way out is to cut this attachment to samsara. There are several meditation practices which enable one to do this. Meditational Practices The principle practice which enables one to cut attachment to samsara is to meditate on the impermanent nature of samsara. By meditating on impermanence, one will be less inclined to become involved in worldly activities. Attachment becomes less attractive as one begins to understand how quickly circumstances change. One can see that even though kings and heroes of the past might have been very famous and wealthy, their fame and wealth did not go on forever but eventually ended. In meditation one contemplates people and the changes they endure; one contemplates objects and their changes and the ways in which they change. When one sees that there is nothing that stays the same, one realizes activities and objects in samsara are not worth that much involvement and attachment. The liberation of the mind then begins to take place. One does not completely give up everything overnight but realizes that too much involvement and attachment are not very beneficial. One realizes that it’s not worth spending much time with samsaric conditioning. The second principle meditation practice is on the nature of suffering in samsara. Previously, it has been explained how one can experience directly the actual emergence of suffering. As explained before, things which seem quite pleasant initially, by their very nature, must bring about suffering later. One realizes that suffering is inherent even in pleasant things. Therefore this contemplation on suffering, which is part of all samsaric phenomena, is the second point. It helps one realize not to spend so much time and involvement in worldly things. It also helps one to realize that by devoting energy to these contemplations one can profit greatly. The third main meditation is on emptiness and the fourth meditation is on the absence of ego or self. As was explained previously, meditation on emptiness is mainly concerned with realizing that the inner phenomena which one thinks of as “mine” and the outer phenomena which one thinks of as “belonging to me” has no validity. The fourth meditation on non-self is concerned more with the idea of the “self” itself, the owner of those things, and how this idea of self is a delusion. |
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Practice of the Hinayana Path The key word in the practice of the Hinayana path is the Vinaya, the code of monastic discipline, which in Tibetan is dulwa which means “taming oneself.” The word is very appropriate if we consider, for example, the taming of an elephant. An elephant is very wild at first and if we want to ride it, to get it to do work, or lead it somewhere, we can’t do it. But by gradually taming the elephant we can ride it, we can get it to work, and we can lead it around. In fact, it becomes very docile and under our control. We can apply this analogy to ourself. At first our mind, body, and speech are very coarse and wild too. This means that just small physical irritations can cause us to flare up and fight. A little bit of verbal irritation upsets us and we begin to shout, scream, and abuse others. Small mental irritations make us think all sorts of nasty and aggressive things. So in the beginning, our mind is very wild and out of control. Hinayana practice is designed to train our mind so that eventually it becomes very docile and workable and we are able to cope properly with any situation. The process of training is related to the commitments we make. We take certain vows and precepts to train ourselves. We do this because we have become used to doing unvirtuous actions and to get out of that habit, we make certain promises or commitments to do virtuous actions and bind ourselves to that virtuous activity. This is a very practical way of training ourselves to refrain from unvirtuous activities and accustoming ourselves gradually to virtuous activities. At first glance we may think that the commitments and vows are really restrictive and difficult, and this keeps us from doing beneficial actions. It seems like being put into a straight-jacket or a prison. Actually, it is not like that at all. The Sanskrit word for this training which covers making vows and commitments is shila which means “coolness.” That was translated into Tibetan as tsultrim which means “keeping one’s discipline” in the way taught by the Buddha. This idea of coolness gives the impression of relaxation and easiness. This is a very good word because one can see that when one maintains virtue, this virtue creates happiness and leads to a pleasant and good situation. And when one practices unvirtuous activities of the body, it causes problems, difficulties, and hardships. Likewise, when one practices improper speech, more and more problems arise. By maintaining good and pure speech, very pleasant results emerge. The same applies to the mind. When one keeps the mind very pure, it brings much happiness. So when one thinks about it carefully, one can see that keeping the commitments, making promises, and restricting one’s activities to virtuous ones is, in fact, the key to happiness. This is not at all a restriction or a difficult situation because it is the key to happiness. This is why the Sanskrit word shila implies “calmness” or “pleasantness.” In order to understand the full power of the meaning of “coolness” for “discipline,” one needs to think about its origins. The word comes from India which is a very hot country in the summer. When we say “coolness” in the West it does not strike us as a particularly good quality because it gets cold here. In Tibet they didn’t translate it as “coolness” because Tibet is a very cold country. But in India coolness is a very valued quality. When the weather is very hot, it is very uncomfortable and one can’t do what one wants. When one finds coolness in a hot place, one feels very happy and comfortable and one is in control. So when one is not committed to goodness, one has a lot of problems and is very uncomfortable and is not really in control of the situation. When one has this commitment to virtue, it is the key to happiness and one controls one’s life. So that word “coolness” really gives a very vivid insight into the whole nature of self-control and good conduct. The Buddha has given us certain commitments and vows to develop our good qualities and give up our bad qualities. But if we can’t give up all the bad things totally, we shouldn’t become depressed and think that there is no way we can practice the dharma. The Buddha in his compassion has given us many different kinds of commitments. We can take the vows of full ordination of a monk or nun and commit ourselves to a great deal of virtue and refrain from all unvirtuous things. If we can’t manage that, there is the level of novice ordination. Then there are the eight layman’s vows called the genyan vows in Tibetan. We don’t have to take all eight vows, but can take one, two, or however many we can manage to practice. Even if we can’t manage these vows for our whole life, we can make them for periods of time. We can observe the eight precepts for one day or a number of days such as while we are in retreat. So it is a very flexible situation that can be adopted by different persons according to their capacities. The motivation of the Hinayana practitioner is mainly concerned with working on his or her own happiness and liberation. At this level one is not especially concerned with helping everyone. Nevertheless, working principally for one’s own emancipation is not a bad thing. In fact, it is a very good thing because if one is not able to help everyone, at least one is removing the suffering and its causes for oneself. There is nothing at all wrong with that. Of course, if one can work helping everyone, that is very wonderful. Actually, wishing to help others is not too workable until one has some degree of clarity and emancipation oneself. Therefore, working towards one’s own purification is a very positive step on the journey towards eventually helping others. It is very good especially for individuals beginning the spiritual path, because it is much easier to think in terms of benefiting oneself. This is why the first wheel of dharma was the phase of the Buddha’s teaching which was mainly concerned with showing the way to self-liberation. |
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The Three Vehicles of Buddhist Practice © Namo Buddha Publications |
