By Lama Yeshe
Bodhicitta is Necessary for Practising Tantra.
As a prerequisite for the successful practice of tantra, the development of
bodhicitta is absolutely necessary It has been said by all masters that to be
properly qualified to practise tantra, we must possess a very strong bodhicitta
motivation. Truly qualified tantric practitioners wish to follow the speediest
path to enlightenment, not with the desire to gain quick liberation, but because
they have unbearable compassion for others. They realise that the longer it
takes them to achieve enlightenment, the longer everyone who needs help will
have to wait. The lightning vehicle of tantra is therefore intended for those
who wish to help others as much as possible, as quickly as possible.
Although it is true that bodhicitta is the most important prerequisite for tantric
practice, in fact, it is more accurate to say that the opposite is true; that
the purpose of practising tantra is to enhance the scope of one's bodhicitta.
There are so many tantric deities - Avalokiteshvara, Manjushri, Tara and the
rest - into whose practice you can be initiated; there are so many deities you
can meditate upon. But what are all these deities for? What is the purpose of
all these practices? It is nothing other than developing and expanding the dedicated
heart of bodhicitta. There is really no other reason for all these deities.
In fact, all tantric meditations without exception are for the sole purpose
of developing strong bodhicitta.
Take the practice of thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara, for example. The whole
reason for having your consciousness manifest as a divine light-being with one
thousand arms is so that you can lend a hand to one thousand suffering beings.
What other reason could you have for wanting so many arms? And, if you do not
feel comfortable manifesting in this way, you can always relate your meditation
to your own culture and manifest your inner being as Jesus, Saint Francis, Kwan
Yin or any other holy being.
What we have to understand is that Avalokiteshvara and Jesus, for example, are
exactly the same; the essential nature of each is complete selfless devotion
in the service of others. Therefore, when we try to be like them, through the
practice of tantra, prayer or any other method, it is only to be able to serve
others in a similarly selfless way. This selfless dedication to others is the
true meaning of bodhicitta and that is why bodhicitta is not only the major
prerequisite of tantra, it is also the most important fruit of this practice.
The Need for Inspiration
Before we can board the lightning vehicle of tantra, we have to understand why
it is both necessary and possible to abandon our ordinary, limited view of ourselves
and generate in its place the enlightened self- identity of a fully evolved
being. We have to realise that our low opinion of ourselves, which keeps us
trapped in the cycle of perpetual dissatisfaction, only arises because we are
ignorant of our basic, essentially pure nature. By generating the prerequisite
renunciation, bodhicitta and wisdom, and by delving into the clear nature of
the mind, we create the space in which true self-transformation can take place.
Yet it is not enough merely to know why such self-transformation is necessary
and possible; we must also generate the strength and confidence that will enable
us to follow this radical approach to fulfilment. In other words, we need to
be inspired. We have to know that the attainment of enlightenment completion,
buddhahood, totality, or whatever we want to call it is not only a theoretical
possibility but something that people like us can and do actually achieve. In
the buddhist tantric tradition the source of this inspiration is the guru (lama
in Tibetan): our teacher and spiritual guide. And the root of the tantric path
is unifying oneself with this source of inspiration through the practice of
guru-yoga.
At the moment we are temporarily incapable of dealing effectively with the problems
created by or egotistical mind. To help solve this problem, Shakyamuni Buddha
taught methods for breaking out of our ego prison and identifying ourselves
with the enlightened beings of the past, present and future. Such enlightened
beings have achieved a state in which there is no separation or distinction
between high and low; there is only the complete equality of the enlightened
experience. The practice of guru-yoga prepares us to enter this unified experience
of complete fulfilment. Through seeing ourselves as one with our spiritual guide
we banish the self-pitying thought: 'The buddhas are so exalted and I am nothing
in comparison.' Instead, we learn to identify our innermost mind with that of
our guru, who is seen as inseparable from everyone who has already achieved
complete awakening. It is through the practice of guru-yoga that our limited
wisdom grows to completeness. The guru's energy of great compassion, great love,
great wisdom and great skill take seed in us so that we ourselves come to embody
these limitlessly beneficial qualities. We ourselves become the guru and, as
such, can give immeasurable and inexhaustible help to all beings. If we do not
generate the qualities of a true guru within us, how can we provide ultimate
benefit for anyone else? We cannot even help ourselves properly.
Bodhicitta (Sanskrit) byang chub kyi sems, bodhicitta (Tibetan) : An altruistic
aspiration to attain full enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, Boddhicitta
is cultivated on the basis of certain mental attitudes, principal among them
being the development of love and compassion towards all beings equally. A genuine
generation of Boddhicitta is attained only when, through the training of the
mind, the aspiration to attain full enlightenment becomes spontaneous and no
longer requires any deliberate exertion. At that stage an individual becomes
a boddhisattva. Literally, bodhi means 'enlightenment' and citta, 'mind'. Mahayana
literature speaks of two types of boddhicitta: conventional boddhicitta and
ultimate boddhicitta. The former refers to that aspect of boddhicitta defined
above, whereas the latter refers to the discriminative awareness (prajna) of
directly realising emptiness which is induced by the altruistic motivation of
boddhicitta. In a tantric context boddhicitta also refers to the white/male
and red/female seminal fluids in the body.
Bodhisattva (Sanskrit) byang chub sems dpa (Tibetan) A spiritual trainee who
has generated the altruistic mind of boddhicitta and is on the path to full
enlightenment. Bodhisattvas, literally meaning 'heroes of enlightenment', are
courageous individuals who dedicate their entire being towards a single goal,
ie. to bring about the welfare of all sentient beings. An essential element
of this commitment to work for others is the determination purposely to remain
within the cycle of existence instead of simply seeking freedom from suffering
for oneself.