Four means of attraction

Four means of attaction (Skt. catuh-saṃgrahavastu; T. bsdu ba'i dngos po bzhi བསྡུ་བའི་དངོས་པོ་བཞི་), or "four means of gathering," are four qualities of the teacher that enable him or her to gather fortunate students.

The four means are:

1. མཁོ་བ་སྦྱིན་པ། dānam / giving whatever is necessary
2. སྙན་པར་སྨྲ་བ། priya vāditā / speaking pleasantly
3. དོན་མཐུན་པ། samānārthatā / helping others
4. དོན་སྤྱོད་པ། artha caryā / consistency between words and deeds.

The Khenjuk states:

Regarding the four means of attraction:

1. Generosity is to attract sentient beings for the sake of the Dharma by giving material things and so forth.
2. Pleasing speech is to inspire beings by uttering words that are appealing and then imparting the paramita teachings.
3. Meaningful conduct is to encourage sentient beings to engage persistently and relentlessly in the paramitas in order to accomplish them.
4. Consistency is to personally engage and train in the paramitas in consistency with others.

Since through these means one attracts sentient beings and brings them to maturation, the resolve concurrent with them is said to resemble the sun ripening crops.

Alternate translations

Alternate translations for this term include:

• four means of attaction
• four means of conversion (Tsepak Rigdzin, et al)
• four means of assembling disciples (Tsepak Rigdzin)
• four ways of gathering beings,
• four ways of gathering,
• four means of positively influencing others
• four ways to benefit others

Sources

• Mipham Rinpoche (2002), Gateway to Knowledge, vol. III, translated by Kunsang, Erik Pema, Rangjung Yeshe Publications 

Further reading

• Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. (2014), The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton University , s.v. saṃgrahavastu
• Patrul Rinpoche (1998), Words of My Perfect Teacher, translated by Padmakara Translation Group, Altamira Press , pages 137-143.