Source Text
Chapter 1: The Five Buddha Families
The five major aspects or “wisdoms” of the Buddha are represented by the five sambhogakaya Buddhas of the five Buddha families. Each Buddha family represents a major disturbing emotion that is overcome by a wisdom. This is symbolically represented by the five Buddha family mandala.
THE ESSENTIAL NATURE of a bodhisattva or a Buddha embraces the enlightened qualities of the five Buddha families, which pervade every living being without exception, including ourselves. Speaking from the level of the path of experience of these five Buddha families, or the five dhyani Buddhas, it is necessary to abandon and overcome the five disturbing emotions of anger, attachment, ignorance, pride, and envy. When these disturbing emotions are purified and removed, the five wisdoms shine forth. Realization of the five wisdoms is realization of the five dhyani Buddhas.
In the short term, anger causes temporary suffering for oneself and others in this lifetime. In the long run, this emotion is so powerful that negative actions or karma accumulated by wishing harm to others can lead one to take rebirth in the lower realms.1 For example, intense anger can cause rebirth in the lowest hell realm, where there is intense suffering. Therefore anger not only causes suffering and pain in this lifetime, but also causes us to take birth in the lower realms where even more intense suffering ensues.
When anger is purified and removed, we gradually begin to realize mirror-like wisdom. With mirror-like wisdom, there is no distinction between self and other phenomena so that everything is experienced in unity and harmony. It is called mirror-like wisdom because phenomena appear to the mind in the same way that things
appear in a clean mirror, completely accurate and with no distortion. Understanding and realizing mirror-like wisdom takes place in the absence of the negative emotion of anger. Realization of mirror-like wisdom is realization of the dhyani Buddha Akshobhya, who is blue in color. He holds a vajra2 in his left hand and his activity…
The second dhyani Buddha is the Buddha Ratnasambhava, who is realized when the negative emotion of pride or ego is purified. It is necessary to define and describe ego, pride, and arrogance. First, ego begins to develop and thrive the moment the mind separates the self from others. Next, three types of pride evolve in the process of self-centeredness: (1) Feeling one is better than others who are in a less fortunate situation; (2) Feeling one is superior to others by failing to see the equality of self and…
What causes us to embark upon the journey of ego? When the self believes that it is separate from others, then the negative emotion of pride arises in which one believes oneself in some way better than others. From this then arises the belief that there are desirable or “good” things, which are the things we believe in and do,…
A purified mind does not distinguish between pure and impure, good and bad, “I” and others; rather, it experiences all things in equality. When we are free from pride, realization of the wisdom of equality dawns and we experience and become one with Buddha Ratnasambhava. Buddha Ratnasambhava is gold or yellow in color, with the color representing his enriching qualities. As a symbol of…
The third dhyani Buddha, Amitabha, represents the purification and elimination of the negative emotion of attachment or desire. The disturbing emotion of desire causes much suffering, because desire distracts us and keeps our minds restless and busy. When we are attached to…
AI Summary
The Five Buddha Families and the Eight Consciousnesses by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche presents key insights from the Tibetan Buddhism tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
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Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.
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