Parting from the Four Attachments

Sachen Kunga Nyingpo

Parting from the Four Attachments (T. zhen pa bzhi bral ཞེན་པ་བཞི་བྲལ་). A fundamental teaching of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. According to tradition, this teaching was revealed to Sachen Kunga Nyingpo by Manjushri.

Title variations

Tibetan title variations:

• zhen pa bzhi bral ཞེན་པ་བཞི་བྲལ་ - "parting from the four attachments"
• blo sbyong zhen pa bzhi bral བློ་སྦྱོང་ཞེན་པ་བཞི་བྲལ་ - The mind training, "parting from the four attachments"

English title variations:

• "parting from the four attachments"
• "parting from the four clingings"
• "freedom from the four fixations"
• "mind training free of the four attachments"

The four attachments

The four lines transmitted to Sachen Kunga Nyingpo are:

1. if you have attachment to this life, you are not a religious practitioner (ཚེ་འདི་ལ་ཞེན་ན་ཆོས་པ་མིན།)
2. if you are attached to cyclic existence, you have no renunciation (འཁོར་བ་ལ་ཞེན་ན་ངེས་འབྱུང་མིན།)
3. if you are attached to your own welfare, you do not have the mind of enlightenment (རང་དོན་ལ་ཞེན་ན་བྱང་སེམས་མིན།)
4. if you have grasping, you do not have the correct view (འཛིན་པ་བྱུང་ན་ལྟ་བ་མིན།)

Brief explanation

Excerpt from a commentary by Nubpa Rigdzin Drak (thirteenth century):

The great venerable master Sakyapa states that all those who wish to seek the supreme state of great bliss beyond sorrow need to part from the four clingings: (1) clinging to this life, (2) clinging to cyclic existence of the three realms, (3) clinging to self-interest, and (4) clinging to things and their symbols.

The antidotes to these are four as well: (1) The antidote to the first clinging is meditation on impermanence; (2) the antidote to the second is reflecting on the defects of cyclic existence; (3) the antidote to the third is recalling the awakening mind; and (4) the antidote to the fourth is reflecting on all phenomena as like dreams and illusions, devoid of self-existence.

Engaging in such reflections and cultivating familiarity with them brings four effects: (1) Your Dharma practice will become genuine Dharma; (2) your Dharma practice will become successful; (3) you will dispel errors of the path; and (4) as the fruit of such understanding and familiarization, you will attain buddhahood, which is [the transformation of all] delusions into perfect wisdom.

Tibetan commentaries

• Jetsün Drakpa Gyaltsen’s (1147-1216) Parting from the Four Attachments
• Sakya Pandita’s (1182-1251) Instruction on Parting from the Four Attachments
• Nubpa Rigdzin Drak’s (thirteenth century) Parting from the Four Attachments
• Goram Sönam Senge (1429-1489), A Key to the Profound Essential Points: A Meditation Guide to Parting from the Four Attachments
• Kunga Lekpé Rinchen (fifteenth century), A Concise Guide to Parting from the Four Attachments
• Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820-1892), Nectar of the Heart—An Experiential Song of Parting from the Four Attachments

Contemporary commentaries

• Chogye Trichen Rinpoche, Parting from the Four Attachments (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2003)
• His Holiness Sakya Trizin, Parting from the Four Attachments (Shangshung Institute publications)
• Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, Lojong Shenpa Shidrel, The Mind-training of Parting from the Four Attachments, with commentary by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche (Siddhartha’s Intent, 2012)

Sources

• Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. (2014), The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton University 
• Thupten Jinpa, ed. (2006), Mind Training: The Great Collection, Boston: Wisdom Publications 

Further reading

Print publications:

• Thupten Jinpa, ed. (2006), Mind Training: The Great Collection, Boston: Wisdom Publications , pages 517-566.

Web publications:

• Parting from the Four Attachments - translated texts, Lotsawa House
• Parting from the Four Attachments, Rigpa Shedra Wiki
• Parting from the Four Attachments, thubtenchodron.org
• A teaching on Parting from the Four Attachments by His Holiness Sakya Trizin