འཕགས་པ་གང་པས་ཞས་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད intro.6

intro.6

Chapter 1 presents a teaching by the Buddha on the way that bodhisattvas can accomplish immeasurable awakened qualities after giving rise to the mind set on awakening. The Buddha lists several sets of spiritual qualities that bodhisattvas must accomplish in order to reach the awakened state. Chapter 2 is devoted to the question of developing a high level of erudition, which allows bodhisattvas to comprehend the definitive meaning of the Dharma. Chapter 3 describes how bodhisattvas can make their progress toward awakening irreversible if they can study, contemplate, and practice previously unknown Dharma teachings with an open mind, rather than automatically discarding them as non-Dharma. Chapter 4 presents further sets of spiritual qualities that bodhisattvas must cultivate in order to obtain sufficient roots of virtue, emphasizing in particular the practice of patience in the face of adversity and hostility. Here the Buddha also narrates a story from one of his previous lives as inspiration for practice, and the narrative includes a pointed description of how biased attitudes can cause sectarian distrust even between followers of the very same lineage taught to different generations.