Ashyaghosha : The Way of Tranquillity and The Way of Wisdom

Iconographic Drawing of the Bodhisattva

Memyō (Ashvaghosha), 12th century

Aldous Huxley

The Perennial Philosophy

"The extract which follows is taken from the translation by Waitao and Goddard of the Chinese text of The Awakening of Faith by Ashvaghosha — a work originally composed in Sanskrit during the first century of our era, but of which the original has been lost.

Ashvaghosha devotes a section of his treatise to the ‘expedient means,* as they are called in Buddhist terminology, whereby unitive knowledge of Thusness may be achieved. The list of these indispensable means includes charity and compassion towards all sentient beings, sub-human as well as human, self-naughting or mortification, personal devotion to the incarnations of the Absolute Buddhanature, and spiritual exercises designed to free the mind from its infatuating desires for separateness and independent selfhood and so make it capable of realizing the identity of its own essence with the universal Essence of Mind.

Of these various ‘expedient means I will cite only the last two — the Way of Tranquillity, and the Way of Wisdom.

The Way of Tranquillity.

The purpose of this discipline is twofold: to bring to a standstill all disturbing thoughts (and all discriminating thoughts are disturbing), to quiet all engrossing moods and emotions, so that it will be possible to concentrate the mind for the purpose of meditation and realization. Secondly, when the mind is tranquillized by stopping all discursive thinking, to practise reflection or meditarion, not in a discriminating, analytical way, but in a more intellectual way, by realizing the meaning and significances of one's thoughts and experiences. By this twofold practice of ‘stopping and realizing one’s faith, which has already been awakened, will be developed, and gradually the two aspects of this practice will merge into one another — the mind perfectly tranquil, but most active in realization. In the past one naturally had confidence in one’s faculty of discrimination (analytical thinking), but this is now to be eradicated and ended.

Those who are practising ‘stopping’ should retire to some quiet place and there, sitting erect, earnestly seek to tranquilize and concentrate the mind. While one may at first think of one’s breathing it is not wise to continue this practice very long, nor to let the mind rest on any particular appearances, or sights, or conceptions, arising from the senses, such as the primal elements of earth, water, fire and ether, nor to let it rest on any of the mind’s perceptions, particularizations, discriminations, moods or emotions. All kinds of ideation are to be discarded as fast as they arise ; even the notions of controlling and discarding are to be got rid of. One’s mind should become like a mirror, reflecting things, but not judging them or retaining them.

Conceptions of themselves have no substance ; let them arise and pass away unheeded. Conceptions arising from the senses and lower mind will not take form of themselves, unless they are grasped by the attention; if they are ignored, there will be no appearing and no disappearing. The same is true of conditions outside the mind ; they should not be allowed to engross one’s attention and so to hinder one’s practice. The mind cannot be absolutely varatitj and as the thoughts arising from the senses and the lower mind are discarded and ignored, one must supply their place by right mentation. The question then arises : why is right mentation ? The reply is : right mentation is the realization of mind itself, of its pure undifferentiated Essence. When the mind is fixed on its pure Essence, there should be no lingering notions of the self, even of the self in the act of realizing, nor of realization as a phenomenon.

The Way of Wisdom.

The purpose of this discipline is to bring a man into the habit of applying the insight that has come to him as the result of the preceding disciplines. When one is rising, standing, walking, doing something, stopping, one should constandy concentrate one’s mind on the act and the doing of it, not on one’s relation to the act, or its character or value. One should think: there is walking, there is stopping, there is realizing; not, I am walking, I am doing this, it is a good thing, it is disagreeable, I am gaining merit, it is I who am realizing how wonderful it is. Thence come vagrant thoughts, feelings of elation or of failure and unhappiness.

Instead of all this, one should simply practise concentration of the mind on the act itself, understanding it to be an expedient means for attaining tranquillity of mind, realization, insight and Wisdom ; and one should follow the practice in faith, willingness and gladness. After long practice the bondage of old habits becomes weakened and disappears, and in its place appear confidence, satisfaction, awareness and tranquillity.

What is this Way of Wisdom designed to accomplish ? There are three classes of conditions that hinder one from advancing along the path to Enlightenment. First, there are the allurements arising from the senses, from external conditions and from the discriminating mind. Second, there are the internal conditions of the mind, its thoughts, desires and mood. All these the earlier practices (ethical and mortificatory) are designed to eliminate. In the third class of impediments are placed the individual’s instinctive and fundamental (and therefore most insidious and persistent) urges — the will to live and to enjoy, the will to cherish one’s personality, the will to propagate, which give rise to greed and lust, fear and anger, infatuation, pride and egotism.

The practice of the Wisdom Paramita is designed to control and eliminate these fundamental and instinctive hindrances. By means of it the mind gradually grows clearer, more luminous, more peaceful. Insight becomes more penetrating, faith deepens and broadens, until they merge into the inconceivable Samadhi of the Mind’s Pure Essence. One continues the practice of The Way of Wisdom, one yields less and less to thoughts of comfort or desolation ; faith becomes surer, more pervasive, beneficent and joyous; and fear of retrogression vanishes.

But do not think that the consummation is to be attained easily or quickly ; many rebirths may be necessary, many aeons may have to elapse. So long as doubts, unbelief, slanders, evil conduct, hindrances of karma, weakness of faith, pride, sloth and mental agitation persist, so long as even their shadows linger, there can be no attainment of the Samadhi of the Buddhas. But he who has attained to the radiance of highest Samadhi, or unitive Knowledge, will be able to realize, with all the Buddhas, the perfect unity of all sentient beings with Buddhahood’s Dharmakaya.

In the pure Dharmakaya there is no dualism, neither shadow of differentiation. All sentient beings, if only they were able to realize it, are already in Nirvana. The Mind’s pure Essence is Highest Samadhi, is Anuttara-samyak-Sambodhi, is Prajna Paramita, is Highest Perfect Wisdom.

Ashyaghosha