Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Trichen introduces the Sakya tradition’s cornerstone teaching on parting from the four attachments, a mind-training practice with roots in the lineage of Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, the first of Sakya’s five founding masters. Through a detailed narrative, Trichen recounts how young Sachen, blessed by his mother and tutored by Bari Lotsawa, meditated on Mañjuśrī for six months and received a vision of the Bodhisattva reciting four pivotal lines: attachment to worldly existence undermines religiosity, renunciation, enlightenment, and correct view. Sachen recognised these four lines as containing the quintessence of all Buddhist sūtra and tantra teachings. The instruction passed through his successors—Sonam Tsemo, Drakpa Gyaltsen, and Sakya Pandita—each transmitting and elaborating it. This teaching offers practitioners a direct diagnostic tool for genuine spiritual practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: trichen-parting-from-the-4-attachments-01-4a
Teacher: Trichen
Collection: Parting from the 4 Attachments (Trichen)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Words: ~1,540
So first of all, in order to achieve the greatest benefit from attending these teachings, everyone is requested to cultivate a state of mind that is appropriate in receiving these teachings on parting from the four attachments. That is to resolve with the intention that I am going to listen to these profound teachings of the Mahāyāna Buddhist teachings in order to benefit numberless sentient beings. It is for this reason I am attending this session. With such motivation, you are all requested to attend tonight’s teachings. Amongst various topics of teachings at hand, tonight’s topic is training of the mind.
The training of the mind, regarded as Lojong in Tibetan, has many different sources and scriptures written in all different traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. You can see firstly the early Kadampa masters of the eleventh century had written a number of Lojong or mind training texts, followed by Kagyu school belonging to that of the early great meditators of Tibet called Jewel Ornament of Liberation by Gampopa, and also the great teachings of the graduated path of enlightenment by Lama Tsongkhapa in the Gelugpa tradition. In the Sakyapa tradition, this parting from the four attachments is held in great esteem. So it is for this reason that I have been asked by the organizers to give teachings on parting from the four attachments based on the realization of the early masters of the Sakya tradition. So that is the topic that we will be discussing tonight.
To explain a little bit of background of these teachings and the parting from four attachments, as I said before, there are four or five great schools in Tibetan Buddhist tradition: Kadampa, Kagyu, Nyingma, Gelugpa, and Sakya. Each of these produced five great founding masters known as the five great pillars of Tibetan Buddhism, and so each of these lineages having five very famous founding masters. Tonight’s teaching, the origin of tonight’s teaching, is connected with the first of the five founding masters of the Sakya school known as Sachen Kunga Nyingpo. Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, as a twelve year old child, was engaged in deep study of Buddhist teachings in a particular seminary. And since having come from the blessed family of Khon lineage of Sakya, he had been assigned to engage in deep study.
But nevertheless, having engaged in study, he had some obstacles in his study. He had become, having been the most important son of his father, Khon Konchok Gyalpo, the founder of the Sakya Monastery. And having passed away, his father, his mother took great responsibility for his training. And the origin of this Khon family, the reason why his mother had to put great emphasis in future study and training of her son was this: the origin of this family is regarded as a descendant of the Clear Light gods. The Clear Light gods who descended in Tibet in early, many thousands of years ago, engaged in some kind of battle or fight, conflict with a certain Yaksha spirit.
And while this long drawn out fighting continued between the descendants of the Clear Light gods and the Yaksha spirits, a matrimonial relationship between one of the descendants of the Clear Light gods and a Yaksha girl named Yatuk Silima, a love affair, engaged. And from that, the family known as Khon originated. Khon really means some kind of conflict that existed between the two, but out of conflict, they also ensured love. And so the hereditary lineage that was produced as a result of that therefore earned the name Khon family.
And the early masters of this Khon family were very instrumental in establishing Buddhism in Tibet. First of all, the great founding father of Tibetan Buddhism, the Padmasambhava, of his twenty-five great disciples, the most celebrated one was Lhalung Pelgyi Dorje. He happened to also be one of the first to be ordained under Shāntarakshita. Early masters of the Khon family, therefore, practiced Vajrakilaya and mainly practiced the teachings of the early old translation or Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism.
So in this way, the Khon family, first of all, were descendants of the Clear Light gods, and later on, having built, having founded Sakya monastery, that name Sakya was more associated with the family than with its original name. So in this way, Khon Konchok Gyalpo, the father of Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, had a very blessed mother. She sent him to study at a very important seminary. After a number of years of study, one of the very famous Sakya protectors—the two protectors is Gonpo Gur and Palden Lhamo—the two protectors can activate the practice, although the main protectors of the tradition are… And these two protectors of Vajrakilaya announced what was happening to young Sachen who was studying at the Gorum Lhakhang Seminary, saying, “Come, you Sakyapa people, dare to stay unaware of what terrible illness has struck your young son in the seminary.” So the manifestation of these protectors announced that in Sakya. And very shocked and troubled to know this information, Sachen’s mother and many people from Sakya traveled to the monastery to rescue the young Sachen who had been struck by a terrible illness. And Sachen was very ill.
I don’t know. His mother consoled him that you need not shed tears. Even if you were to die studying with ten thousand monks, there’s no reason for you to regret since your life is spent in study. His mother was very skillful in consoling and encouraging him even when he was struck with a severe illness. So, however, they brought young Sachen back to Sakya.
And Sachen Kunga Nyingpo was enthroned, and Bari Lotsawa was appointed as the tutor to Sachen Kunga Nyingpo. So there was a very interesting anniversary of the passing away of his father, Khon Konchok Gyalpo. So enthroning Sachen himself as a successor and also appointment of the tutor and anniversary of his father, all these three very important occasions coincided. The mother organized a skillful way to coincide these three important events: appointment of the tutor, important duties.
The teacher, having acted as a personal tutor to Sachen, gave instruction to young Sachen. And since you are the young future leader of the family, you might be born intelligent as a natural inheritance of your blessed family. Nevertheless, it is important for you to study, contemplate and meditate and further your practices by engaging. In order to do this, you need to resort to the help of a wisdom deity. A special wisdom deity has to be used to practice your meditation upon. Ārya Mañjuśrī is excellent as a wisdom deity. And having given him the empowerment, Bari Lotsawa, having given his blessing to twelve year old Sachen, who then went into retreat on the practice of Ārya Mañjuśrī.
According to the instructions, young Sachen spent six continuous months in meditation retreat. So he spent six continuous months in meditation retreat of Mañjuśrī, the Bodhisattva of wisdom. At that time, at one time in the middle of his meditation, he witnessed the vision of Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī seated on a sitting throne in a preaching gesture. Mañjuśrī was surrounded by many enlightened beings. And he was rather sitting in a chair posture, not seated cross-legged. He was shown on the throne in front of the assembly. So there were two Bodhisattvas, two Bodhisattvas, one on right and one on left. Bodhisattvas appeared in his meditation. And then Mañjuśrī, the main Bodhisattva who appeared in his meditation, spoke the following four lines:
If you have attachment to this life, you are not a religious person. If you are attached to the worldly existence, you do not have renunciation. If you have attachment to your own purpose, you do not have the thought of enlightenment. If grasping arises, fixation, you do not have the correct view.
And you should contemplate on the meaning of these four lines. Sachen, the young intelligent monk, reflected that these four lines contained the quintessence of all the sūtra and tantra, meaning exoteric and esoteric teachings of the Buddha. Specifically, all the teachings of the Pāramitāyāna or causal perfection vehicle are contained in these four lines. And Sachen gained a definite conviction and realization of the profundity that was contained in these four line instructions.
Sachen gave this instruction to his son, Sonam Tsemo. Sonam Tsemo gave this to his younger brother, Jetsün Drakpa Gyaltsen. Drakpa Gyaltsen gave this to Sakya Pandita, the most excellent great scholar of Tibet, who is reputed to be an emanation of Mañjuśrī himself, who is known as one who excelled in ten fields of studies, ten fields of sciences, five outer and five inner. Sakya Pandita himself wrote a commentary on these four line instructions.