Threefold training

The threefold training (triśikṣā; P. tisikkhā; T. blab pa gsum བླབ་པ་གསུམ་; C. sanxue 三学) is an important formulation of the Buddhist path that is identified in both the Sanskrit and Pali traditions.

The three aspects of this training are:

śīla - ethical conduct, moral conduct, discipline, etc.
samadhi - concentration, meditation, etc.
prajna - wisdom, insight, etc.

Overview

Ethical conduct

Geshe Tashi Tsering states:

The first training, ethics (also called ethical conduct or moral discipline) is crucial in developing the second and the third, concentration and wisdom, and as such is really the foundation for the other two.

What is morally right and wrong is something that each of us feels intuitively, even when it is not taught to us by our parents or our teachers. Ethics must be based on compassion, not on some commitment that we follow simply because we are Buddhists and have been told to practice it. By understanding compassion, we see how ethical conduct is required, and as we develop compassion, ethical behavior will arise quite spontaneously.

Nothing is intrinsically immoral from its own side. “Moral” or “immoral” can be defined by the way an individual person communicates with others, or how they mentally perceive others. So ethical conduct, practicing a moral life, is not something that can effectively be enforced from the outside but must grow out of a subjective understanding of what helps and what harms others. Therefore, whether something is moral or not really depends on whether others’ feelings and rights have been considered. That is where compassion comes in. If we live our lives taking into account others’ feelings, perspectives, and rights, then basically we are living an ethical life.^[1]

Concentration

Geshe Tashi Tsering states:

The second training, which includes concentration and mindfulness, leads to the ability to focus our minds on whatever object we choose, and to keep that focus clearly and with intensity for an extended period of time. Concentration in itself is neutral. Whether it is positive or negative depends on the object of our concentration. Living an immoral life tends to mean focusing on sense pleasures and indulgences at the expense of others and often that means a very dissipated life. Therefore, immorality and concentration rarely go together. So in order to have a single-pointed mind, living an ethical life is essential. On the basis of an ethical life, we can slowly develop our concentration from the very simple mindfulness meditations emphasized in Theravada, such as observing the body posture or the breath, to practices that develop more clarity and extended concentration. When we are really advanced we can actually develop true calm abiding.^[1]

Wisdom

Geshe Tashi Tsering states:

Wisdom, the understanding of how things and events really exist in terms of their impermanence, interdependence, and lack of intrinsic existence, is the third training, and again its foundation is the other two trainings, especially concentration. Even an intellectual understanding of wisdom requires focus, and this is even more true if we wish to take this understanding to a depth where it really starts to turn our life around.

As with the other two trainings, training in wisdom progresses through levels. Our practice grows gradually from a study of the mind, specifically the wrong concepts we labor under, and develops through the different subtleties of the law of cause and effect until we can come to understand and eventually realize emptiness and impermanence.^[1]