Lower Sutras, Upper Sutras and Tantra, and the Titles of Accomplishment
by Khenpo Tashi
The earlier article is found here. Some further explanations on Shedra.
Buddhism is divided into ‘subject’, the observer, and the ‘object’, the observed.
Lower Sutras
Why are Levels 1-4 called Lower Sutra Section? This is because the main topic here is Middle Way. Middle Way is about emptiness of the outside object, we can roughly say like this. Middle way is about the precise explanations of the ’emptiness of inherent existence’.
It is a little easier than the Upper Sutra Section.
Upper Sutras
Why ‘Upper’? Because main topic is Perfection of Wisdom. It is more about the subject, the observer of the emptiness. It is about Buddha-nature. It is also about the stages and levels of attainments of a Bodhisattva leading up to the Buddhahood.
It is a little harder than the Lower Sutra Section. That is why ‘Upper’.
Titles
When one finishes the Lower Sutras, Level 4, one is awarded the title:
Great Explainer of the Non-Extremes (Middle Way) མཐའ་བྲལ་སྨྲ་བའི་དབང་ཕྱུག (Tha dral ma we wang chuk)
Then, finishing Upper Sutras, Level 6, one gains the title:
Master of Perfection ཕར་ཕྱིན་རབས་འབྱམས། (Par chin rab jam)
When one finishes Buddhist Tantras, Level 9, one gains the title:
Holder of the Definitive and Esoteric Elegant Teachings ངེས་གསང་ལེགས་བཤད་མཛོད་འཆང། (Nge sang lek she joe chang)
That is a Loppon. After several years of training, service and experience, Loppon becomes a Khenpo.
Shedra Titles and Monastic Vows
At Shedra Level 1, the students must receive the Getsul or Gestulma (for women) monastic vow. This is the novice monastic vow. They have to receive it because at Level 1, they will be learning the Three Kinds of Vows.
At Shedra Level 7, all students must receive the Gelong vow, because now they are studying the Vinaya (the Buddha’s set of teachings on Monastic ethical discipline).
So, a Khenpo can give vows to others because a Khenpo must be a Gelong (Tib), a Bhikshu, someone who has received the full monastic vow (around 250 vows).