Sample translation · Opening pages
A Jewel Lamp to Illuminate the Characteristics of Phenomena
An English translation prepared as part of Badawa Academy’s foundational Collected Topics curriculum. This preliminary sample is shared for study and may be revised before publication.
Read the complete Level 1 sampleIntroduction
Expression of Homage
With great devotion of body, speech, and mind, I prostrate and go for refuge at the lotus feet of that great friend of all beings, the incomparable King of the Shakyas, the fourth guide of the world. Please grant your blessings.
Body, in which a single body displays a wondrous variety of emanations;
Speech, with a single pronouncement teaching all meanings in different languages;
Mind, in which a single mind knows all phenomena with ceaseless apprehension—
I keep the lotus feet of Buddha Shakyamuni upon my crown until enlightenment.
Sole father of all Conquerors, Manjushri, treasure of knowledge,
and Saraswati, bestower of supreme confidence in teaching and debate,
happily remain at the center of the lotus of my heart
and bestow unimpeded wisdom knowledge.
Seven hierarchs, sixteen arhats,
ornaments of the world, venerable Nagarjuna and Asanga,
Dignaga, Dharmakirti, Vasubandhu, and the others—
homage at the lotus feet of those great charioteers.
Translators and pandits who translated the Buddha’s teachings
from Sanskrit into Tibetan, Indian and Tibetan masters
who upheld, cultivated, and spread the teachings—
I bow my head to all those scholars and masters of the teachings.
Intelligent wisdom pervading all that can be known,
watching with love, fully engaged with all beings—
my supreme root Guru, whose kindness is impossible to repay,
again and again I think of you, smiling at my heart.
The Promise to Compose
Ripening and accomplishing minds of virtue and non-virtue—
how these arise is inferred from karma.
So long as a mind that understands phenomena is absent,
omniscience will not be attained.
If one’s mind is not trained in all phenomena,
omniscience is farther away than the sky.
Thus many supreme sages say with one voice,
repeatedly, that the first door of entry is to emphasize
the study of valid cognition, pramana; this is well said and correct.
The commentary that gathers this into one is called Collected Topics.
To make some meanings of that renowned subject more accessible
to those of initial capacity, I shall explain them in clear words.
Meaning of the Text
Here, in order to develop certainty about the general meaning of the Collected Topics, we begin this commentary entitled A Jewel Lamp to Illuminate the Characteristics of Phenomena.
Objects of Knowledge
The basis to be categorized
- The definition of objects of knowledge
- Synonyms of objects of knowledge
- Definitions of the synonyms
- Detailed explanation of definitions, definiendums, and bases
The Definition of Objects of Knowledge
The definition of an object of knowledge is: that which is suitable to be an object of mind. The etymology is as follows: because all phenomena—such as pillars and vases—are suitable to be general objects of the minds of beings, from sentient beings to Buddhas, they are called objects of knowledge.
Examples include pillars, vases, form, consciousness, omniscience, space, true cessations, the isolate of a pillar, that which is one with a pillar, that which is different from a pillar, generic images, the non-existence of a rabbit’s horn, the pair of a pillar and a vase, and the pair of permanent and impermanent things.
Examples of what are not objects of knowledge include a rabbit’s horn, the permanence of a vase, the non-existence of karmic cause and effect, a self of persons, and something that is both a pillar and a vase.
Furthermore, the various Buddhist tenet systems differ endlessly in what they present as an object of knowledge. For example, the existence of space as a substance is an object of knowledge for the Vaibhashikas, but not for systems from Sautrantika upward. Truly existent mind and form are objects of knowledge for systems from Cittamatra downward, but not for Madhyamaka. Inherently existent vases are objects of knowledge for Svatantrika Madhyamaka, but not for Prasangika Madhyamaka.