Perfect Joy
Perfect Joy (Skt. pramuditābhūmi; Tib. རབ་ཏུ་དགའ་བ་, rabtu gawa, Wyl. rab tu dga’ ba) — the first of the bodhisattva bhumis.
Buddha states in the Samdhinirmochana Sutra:
- The first stage is called Utmost Joy because there is a supreme and immense joy in attaining the immaculate and sublime purpose, the supramundane mind.[1]
Kalu Rinpoche explains:
- The first stage of realization and activity of a bodhisattva is called 'the Supremely Joyful' because for as long as one has not recognized the true nature of one's mind, and one is not conscious of the illusory projections of mind, one is subjected to all sorts of sufferings and difficulties. Realization of the true nature of one's mind is compared to pouring cold water into water that is already boiling; instantly, the water stops boiling. In the same way, through this realization, the mind immediately knows a great peace and a great happiness. Hence it is called 'the Supremely Joyful'.[2]
From Chandrakirti's Introduction to the Middle Way, chapter 1, verse 5:
- །ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོའི་སྨོན་པས་རབ་བསྔོས་དགའ་བ་ལ། །རབ་ཏུ་གནས་པ་དེ་ནི་དང་པོ་ཞེས་བྱའོ། །དེ་ནས་བཟུང་སྟེ་དེ་ནི་ཐོབ་པར་གྱུར་པ་ཡིས། །བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་ཞེས་བྱའི་སྒྲ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་བསྙད་དོ།
- They perfectly dedicate their virtues with Samantabhadra’s payer, and perfectly abide in joy in this ground named perfect joy. As they have attained this ground, they are called bodhisattvas.
Notes
- ↑ 84000, 9.4
- ↑ From an oral teaching given by Kyabjé Kalu Rinpoche at Rigpa Paris, in 1987, later published in Khyentse Özer, under the title 'The Union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen'.
Alternative Translations
- Supremely Joyful
- Complete Joy
- The Intensely Joyful One/Intense Joy
- Utmost Joy