Introduction: About This Book

This book offers a panoramic view of the whole of Buddhism. Beginning with the first teachings taught by the Buddha, it follows the path of the “fifteen vehicles” through the Bodhisattva path of Mahayana, esoteric Buddhism, the later esoteric Buddhism of the Unsurpassed Yoga Tantras, Dzogchen, and finally the innermost teaching of Yangti Nakpo.

Its foundation is the view of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingma school usually organizes the whole of the Buddha's teaching as “nine vehicles”—nine conveyances. The arrangement of the “fifteen vehicles” in this book is something I learned from Professor Chen Jianmin's Buddhist Meditation. Taking the nine-vehicle classification as its base, it divides the ninth vehicle, Atiyoga, more finely into the three sections (Semde, Longde, and Menngagde) and into Ati, Chiti, and Yangti, which are taught in the Menngagde (the Instruction Section); to this finer classification the author has added his understanding of the “Most Secret Unsurpassed” (Yangsang Lanamepa), the innermost of the four divisions of the Menngagde. What results is the “fifteen vehicles” of this book. Each division rests on tradition, but lining them up in a single row and counting them as “fifteen vehicles” is an arrangement made for the purpose of explanation in this book. Please therefore read it as distinct from the standard way of counting the nine vehicles that the Nyingma school as a whole uses.

This book does not assume any prior knowledge of Buddhism.

I would like to say just a word about how this book is written.

What is written here is only what I have thought and understood. In many places the sentences are stated flatly, as “it is...” or “we do...,” but I do not mean them as final assertions. Adding “I think” every time would make the text hard to read, and I would be grateful if you would read it in that spirit.

The sources for what is described fall into three kinds. The first is reference to the sutras and treatises themselves; the second is reference to modern scholarly research; the third is the oral instructions I received directly from my teachers and the knowledge I gained myself on occasions of transmission. Where something belongs to the third kind, I have noted it each time.

This book continues, after this Sutra part, into the Esoteric part. The portions that go more deeply into the Esoteric part touch on the actual practice of esoteric Buddhism. For that reason, although it has been made as a book, it will not be made public; in the future it will be handed over, as a limited edition, by hand only to those who have received the permission of Chung Tulku Rinpoche.

PREFACE

From the Author to the Reader

I am truly glad that you have picked up this book.

About two thousand five hundred years ago, Buddhism began with the question of one human being. The question was: "Why do human beings suffer? Can we be freed from that suffering at its root?" That question has not changed. Eras have passed, civilizations have changed, and science and technology have advanced by leaps and bounds, yet the fact that human beings suffer, and the root of that suffering, remain the same.

I wrote this book out of a single feeling.

It is the feeling that the map of "the path to liberation from suffering," which Buddhism has built up over twenty-five hundred years, is needed most in present-day Japan, yet sadly its whole shape is hardly known.

Japan has a history of Buddhism stretching over fifteen hundred years. Even so, for many Japanese people Buddhism is recognized as “the religion of funerals” or “a ritual for honoring ancestors.” That history is itself precious, but the true character of Buddhism—clarifying the root of human suffering and showing the complete path to fundamental liberation (gedatsu)—does not seem to have been conveyed.

Seen through this view of the fifteen vehicles, I have tried to portray as one continuous path the teaching that begins with the Buddha, deepens as Mahayana Buddhism, and then the later esoteric Buddhism transmitted to Tibet and on to Bhutan—the Unsurpassed Yoga Tantras, then Dzogchen (the Great Perfection), and finally the teaching of Yangti Nakpo. In Japan, the rich traditions of mainly the Sutra teachings and the Outer Tantras took root; but this map, I believe, shows that the path continues further beyond that.

This book aims to present that whole picture systematically, from the first vehicle, the Shravaka Vehicle, to the fifteenth vehicle, the teaching of Yangti Nakpo. This is not a denial of Japanese Buddhism. Upon the rich foundation of the Bodhisattva path taught in the Mahayana that Japanese Buddhism has nurtured, I wish to add the path that lies beyond, and so to show the whole of Buddhism in its original form.

This book is written with a wide readership in mind, from those meeting Buddhism for the first time to those who have walked the Buddhist path for many years. Technical terms are explained, and philosophical concepts are accompanied by explanations in the plainest possible language. At the same time, I have aimed to convey the most refined inquiry into the mind that humankind has produced, without losing its depth.

As you read on, there may be moments when you feel, “This is about me.” Or moments when you are surprised: “There was a path like this?” Such moments may well be the moments when the Buddha's teaching, across twenty-five hundred years, reaches you now.

Kiyotsugu Kawasaki

Acknowledgments

This book came into being through the guidance of many teachers and Dharma friends. I would like to record my gratitude here.

First, to the Great Vajra Master Pu Fang of Zongchi Temple in Taiwan, who led me not only into the world of Buddhism but into the vast world of Tibetan Buddhism.

After Pu Fang Shangshi passed away, to Professor Shinichi Nakazawa, who guided me to Dzogchen; and to his teacher, Khetsun Sangpo Rinpoche.

To the members of the Palyul lineage, who warmly welcomed me at a retreat in New York where I had gone seeking further study: His Holiness Karma Kuchen, Gyangkhang Tulku, and Mugsang Tulku.

To Khenchen Tsewang Gyatso Rinpoche, who took on my personal instruction during a Dzogchen retreat at Namdroling Monastery in India.

And to Chung Tulku Rinpoche of Bhutan, who made real for me the Yangti Nakpo that I had first been taught in Taiwan by Pu Fang Shangshi.

To the many senior practitioners whom I cannot fully name here, and to all my vajra brothers and sisters.

My heartfelt thanks to you all.