New Three Turnings

[Natan]

Let's see if you agree or disagree. I will propose a new Three Turnings. The usual three turnings are Hinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana, right? Or sometimes, Hinayana, Prajñāpāramitā and Tathagatagarbha with Vajrayana included into the latter two, along with three baskets of Vinaya, sutra and Abhidharma.

Now let's say these are the three turnings and three baskets of the wheel of dharma of Buddha Shakyamuni's dispensation: What might they be?

Vinaya, Sutra and Vajrayana. Vinaya inclusive of samayas in Vajrayana. Sutra inclusive of the principles and concepts of Vajrayana. And methods for accomplishment or Vajrayana inclusive of all the shastra and abhidharma like abhidharma pitaka, Yogacara, Madhyamaka and the mandalas (and pith instructions).

If nudging the ready to Buddhahood is the goal of this project, is there anything about this schema to preclude that condition?

[Aemilius]

The classical Three Turnings do not include Vajrayana or Tantra, rather they are:

"First Turning
The first turning is traditionally said to have taken place at Deer Park in Sarnath near Varanasi in northern India. It consisted of the teaching of the four noble truths, dependent arising, the five aggregates, the sense fields, not-self, the thirty seven aids to awakening and all the basic Buddhist teachings common to all Buddhist traditions and found in the various Sutrapitaka and Vinaya collections.

The second turning is said to have taken place at Vulture Peak Mountain in Rajagriha, in Bihar, India. The second turning emphasizes the teachings of emptiness (Skt: śūnyatā) and the bodhisattva path. The main sutras of this second turning are considered to be the Prajñāpāramitā sutras.

Third Turning
Yogācāra sources
The first sutra source which mentions the "three turnings" is the Ārya-saṃdhi-nirmocana-sūtra (Noble sūtra of the Explanation of the Profound Secrets), the foundational sutra of the Yogācāra school. Major ideas in this text include the storehouse consciousness (ālayavijñāna), and the doctrine of cognition-only (vijñapti-mātra) and the "three natures" (trisvabhāva). The Saṃdhinirmocana affirms that the teachings of the earlier turnings authentic but are also incomplete and require further clarification and interpretation. According to the Saṃdhinirmocana, the previous two turnings all had an "underlying intent" which refers to the three natures (and their threefold lack of essence), the central doctrine of the third turning.

The Saṃdhinirmocana also claims that its teachings are the ultimate and most profound truth which cannot lead to a nihilistic interpretation of the Dharma which clings to non-existence (unlike the second wheel, which can be misinterpreted in a negative way) and is also incontrovertible and irrefutable (whereas the second wheel can be refuted). As such, the third turning is also called "the wheel of good differentiation" (suvibhakta), and "the wheel for ascertaining the ultimate" (paramartha-viniscaya). In East Asian Buddhism, the third turning is referred to as “ultimate turn of the Dharma wheel” (無上法輪).

Other Mahāyāna sutras are considered to be associated with the Yogācāra school, and thus, with the third turning (though these sutras themselves do not mention "three turnings"). These include the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra and the Ghanavyūha Sūtra, both of which discuss Yogācāra topics like the ālayavijñāna, the three natures and mind-only idealism as well as tathāgatagarbha ideas.

The teachings of the third turning are further elaborated in the numerous works of Yogācāra school masters like Asaṅga, Vasubandhu, Sthiramati, Dharmapāla, Śīlabhadra, Xuanzang, Jñānagarbha and Ratnākaraśānti."

source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Tur ... _of_Dharma

[Natan]

The classical Three Turnings do not include Vajrayana or Tantra, rather they are:

"First Turning
The first turning is traditionally said to have taken place at Deer Park in Sarnath near Varanasi in northern India. It consisted of the teaching of the four noble truths, dependent arising, the five aggregates, the sense fields, not-self, the thirty seven aids to awakening and all the basic Buddhist teachings common to all Buddhist traditions and found in the various Sutrapitaka and Vinaya collections.

The second turning is said to have taken place at Vulture Peak Mountain in Rajagriha, in Bihar, India. The second turning emphasizes the teachings of emptiness (Skt: śūnyatā) and the bodhisattva path. The main sutras of this second turning are considered to be the Prajñāpāramitā sutras.

Third Turning
Yogācāra sources
The first sutra source which mentions the "three turnings" is the Ārya-saṃdhi-nirmocana-sūtra (Noble sūtra of the Explanation of the Profound Secrets), the foundational sutra of the Yogācāra school. Major ideas in this text include the storehouse consciousness (ālayavijñāna), and the doctrine of cognition-only (vijñapti-mātra) and the "three natures" (trisvabhāva). The Saṃdhinirmocana affirms that the teachings of the earlier turnings authentic but are also incomplete and require further clarification and interpretation. According to the Saṃdhinirmocana, the previous two turnings all had an "underlying intent" which refers to the three natures (and their threefold lack of essence), the central doctrine of the third turning.

The Saṃdhinirmocana also claims that its teachings are the ultimate and most profound truth which cannot lead to a nihilistic interpretation of the Dharma which clings to non-existence (unlike the second wheel, which can be misinterpreted in a negative way) and is also incontrovertible and irrefutable (whereas the second wheel can be refuted). As such, the third turning is also called "the wheel of good differentiation" (suvibhakta), and "the wheel for ascertaining the ultimate" (paramartha-viniscaya). In East Asian Buddhism, the third turning is referred to as “ultimate turn of the Dharma wheel” (無上法輪).

Other Mahāyāna sutras are considered to be associated with the Yogācāra school, and thus, with the third turning (though these sutras themselves do not mention "three turnings"). These include the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra and the Ghanavyūha Sūtra, both of which discuss Yogācāra topics like the ālayavijñāna, the three natures and mind-only idealism as well as tathāgatagarbha ideas.

The teachings of the third turning are further elaborated in the numerous works of Yogācāra school masters like Asaṅga, Vasubandhu, Sthiramati, Dharmapāla, Śīlabhadra, Xuanzang, Jñānagarbha and Ratnākaraśānti."

source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Tur ... _of_Dharma

Well it's tradition in TB that Vajrayana is included in Mahayana... so... Sometimes it's a separate wheel of mantra. Sometimes it's in the abhidharma pitaka.

[Aemilius]

The classical Three Turnings do not include Vajrayana or Tantra, rather they are:

"First Turning
The first turning is traditionally said to have taken place at Deer Park in Sarnath near Varanasi in northern India. It consisted of the teaching of the four noble truths, dependent arising, the five aggregates, the sense fields, not-self, the thirty seven aids to awakening and all the basic Buddhist teachings common to all Buddhist traditions and found in the various Sutrapitaka and Vinaya collections.

The second turning is said to have taken place at Vulture Peak Mountain in Rajagriha, in Bihar, India. The second turning emphasizes the teachings of emptiness (Skt: śūnyatā) and the bodhisattva path. The main sutras of this second turning are considered to be the Prajñāpāramitā sutras.

Third Turning
Yogācāra sources
The first sutra source which mentions the "three turnings" is the Ārya-saṃdhi-nirmocana-sūtra (Noble sūtra of the Explanation of the Profound Secrets), the foundational sutra of the Yogācāra school. Major ideas in this text include the storehouse consciousness (ālayavijñāna), and the doctrine of cognition-only (vijñapti-mātra) and the "three natures" (trisvabhāva). The Saṃdhinirmocana affirms that the teachings of the earlier turnings authentic but are also incomplete and require further clarification and interpretation. According to the Saṃdhinirmocana, the previous two turnings all had an "underlying intent" which refers to the three natures (and their threefold lack of essence), the central doctrine of the third turning.

The Saṃdhinirmocana also claims that its teachings are the ultimate and most profound truth which cannot lead to a nihilistic interpretation of the Dharma which clings to non-existence (unlike the second wheel, which can be misinterpreted in a negative way) and is also incontrovertible and irrefutable (whereas the second wheel can be refuted). As such, the third turning is also called "the wheel of good differentiation" (suvibhakta), and "the wheel for ascertaining the ultimate" (paramartha-viniscaya). In East Asian Buddhism, the third turning is referred to as “ultimate turn of the Dharma wheel” (無上法輪).

Other Mahāyāna sutras are considered to be associated with the Yogācāra school, and thus, with the third turning (though these sutras themselves do not mention "three turnings"). These include the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra and the Ghanavyūha Sūtra, both of which discuss Yogācāra topics like the ālayavijñāna, the three natures and mind-only idealism as well as tathāgatagarbha ideas.

The teachings of the third turning are further elaborated in the numerous works of Yogācāra school masters like Asaṅga, Vasubandhu, Sthiramati, Dharmapāla, Śīlabhadra, Xuanzang, Jñānagarbha and Ratnākaraśānti."

source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Tur ... _of_Dharma

Well it's tradition in TB that Vajrayana is included in Mahayana... so... Sometimes it's a separate wheel of mantra. Sometimes it's in the abhidharma pitaka.

Tantra has most certainly orginated outside of Sahakyamuni's community of Bhikshus, according to the Tantric tradition itself. I have read and/or heard different versions of its origin. In one of these stories Buddha makes his sravaka disciples fall asleep, while he teaches Tantra to the King Indrabhuti (or King Indrabodhi).

In the works of Jetsun Taranatha, that have been translated into english by David Templeman, King Indrabodhi sees red or orange "birds" flying in the sky, and he asks his minister "what are these strange coloured birds flying there in the sky ?" The minister answers that they are Arhats of the Buddha Shakyamuni, who have attained the psychic power of levitating in the sky. The King then invites Shakyamuni to visit his palace and asks for a method of Dharma that he can practice while he continues to live with his harem of consorts. Buddha then intiates him into the practice of Tantra.

In other versions of the origin of Tantra, it is said that "during the time of Buddha Shakyamuni, since there were no fit vessels to receive the tantric teachings, they were only taught in Tushita heaven" (Jnanamitra’s commentary). According to this version the tantras appear on Earth, or in Jambudvipa, only after the parinirvana of Shakyamuni, and they are taught either by Vajrapani or by Varjasattva.

See this https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?tit ... ite_note-6

[Aemilius]

From Seven Instruction Lineages by Jonang Taranatha, translated by David Templeman, chapter Instruction Three:
Karmamudra
"There was the great King Indrabhuti who had seen the veryface of the Enlightened One. He was by nature Vajrapani, the Lord of Secrets. One is unable to think about the antiquity or origins of such things. He was master of all the secret mantras of this particular doctrine. Furthermore as King
of Urgyen, he rejoiced in his wealthy Kingdom. Once King Indrabhuti saw arhats who formed a retinue of the Buddha, flying to and fro to other lands and as it was seen over a long distance, confused, he asked theministers, "What exactly is that flock of red birds?" The ministersreplied, "Your majesty, these are not birds; they are Arhats of the Great Sage, the Fully Enlightened Victorious one." The King desired to see the Buddha but when the ministers told him that he would not come such a distance, the King prayed and at midday inside his palace he set out vast offerings for the
500 Arhat attendants of the Buddha and be begged them for various methods of attaining Enlightenment. The King was told, "Abandon the attributes of desire and uphold the Three Higher Trainings and the Six Perfections "
The King said, "Give me some method to gain Enlightenment while I enjoy the five sensual pleasures together with my gathering of women.
It is easier for a sensualist In the forests of Jambudvipa To be reborn a fox; But, O Gautama, I never wanted liberation By
abandoning desire."
Then the hosts of Sravakas became invisible and soared off and a voice came from the skies saying,
"In this being the eight Pudgalas are no longer in existence and there remains not even a potential of his being a Sravaka or Pratyekabuddha. The most magically potent Bodhisattvas have manifested themselves in this bodily form." Those voices which had arisen in the heavens became an immeasurable mandala and the King was given empowerment, the bodily perfection of Yugannadah and also the Tathagata himself gave him all the Tantras. Furthermore he instructed all the people of Urgyen quite widely and gathered the Tantras together into book form. Finally, becoming invisible, together with his convocation of consorts, it is said that he became transformed into a Sambhogakaya. Practicing in one Buddha Realm and another, he acted in accordance with the injunctions contained in the Secret Tantra collection. At that time the King, together with his attendants, without any exceptions whatever, including all the people of Urgyen, bhutas, minor creatures, animals, insects -all the above, by means of the path
of Great Bliss attained Siddhi, and attained their rainbow bodies."