One Goal, Many
Methods
After we have explored the countless expressions of the different spiritual
traditions and their meditative methods, even within the Hinayana, Mahayana, and
Vajrayana systems of the Buddha Dharma, we find their essence is the same. If
we were to synthesize all these traditions and their practices into one essential
practice or philosophy, this would be Bodhicitta (the awakened heart-mind of wisdom
and compassion). Bodhicitta is the core essence of the teachings we are receiving,
of all the teachings we have ever received. This is a very important point to
recognize. The great Kadampa masters, like Atisha, have already essentialized
these practices for us, so we do not have to invent something new. The proven
path to success already exists. It is right here for us, in this moment. However,
it is important to know how to essentialize the teachings, to look to their meaning,
or Dharma can be very confusing, like when we come to a fork in the road when
driving a car and we do not know which way to go. We have to recognize that the
essence of all the teachings is Bodhicitta, the awakened state of mind, which
is compassion itself.
When Atisha came to Tibet, he met a famous teacher named
Rinchen Zangpo, who invited Atisha to his monastery. There they had a wonderful
Dharma discussion. Rinchen Zangpo was able to answer any question Atisha had.
Atisha said to his attendants, "Why do I have to be in Tibet when they have
Rinchen Zangpo?" Finally, Atisha asked, "How do you practice all these
sutras and tantras together?" Rinchen Zangpo said, "When you practice
sutra, you practice sutra, and when you practice tantra, you practice tantra."
Then he took Atisha to his temple and there were many images of deities, each
with its own cushion. "Now I know why I have come," Atisha said. Atisha
saw that Rinchen Zangpo was relying on the superficial level of the Dharma, he
was relying on the external form and not connecting with the essence, Bodhicitta.
Because Atisha saw how this approach to Dharma was corrupting the teachings, he
unified them in order to reveal their essence and to prevent people from practicing
improperly.
For example, in Vajrayana Buddhism there are an incredible amount
of teachings-ngondro, tsa lung, trekchod, mahayoga, atiyoga. But is there a separate
purpose for all these teachings? No! There is a single goal and a single practice,
although there are many methods. Bodhicitta, which is ultimate love, is the highest
realization one can gain through all these methods. Bodhicitta is not merely mundane
love, it is the union of love and compassion, which is the actualization of wisdom.
We can only understand the nature of reality through love, not through our small
ideas, or concepts, or language, or even knowledge. We can only understand the
highest reality through understanding and realizing ultimate love, which is Bodhicitta
mind. Bodhicitta mind is love, which is wisdom itself.
The Goal is the Practice
Itself
We begin Dharma practice by developing love and compassion. There is
no end to Dharma practice, but if there were, it would end with love and compassion.
This is the core essence of Dharma practice. Developing love and compassion is
the essence of any Dharma practice we can do. All teachings have the same message,
that of generating love and compassion. So it is crucial that we know how to essentialize
all of the Dharma teachings, not thinking that all these Dharma teachings have
separate goals. When we practice Bodhicitta, loving-kindness, the goal is already
here, right here in each of us, in this moment. It does not exist in the future
when we are better practitioners. The goal IS what we are doing right now. Practicing
love and kindness is the goal of the practice. When we practice love and compassion
for other beings, for ourselves, we are truly enlightened in that moment. There
is no other definition of enlightenment apart from having love and compassion.
The goal is already actualized in this moment. The goal is the practice itself.
This
is a very Mahayana idea, because normally we think a goal is something we obtain
in the future, as the result of the practice of meditation or yoga. But in this
way our Dharma practice is based on expectations and selfish motivations and lacks
the authentic heart-connection needed to free ourselves of delusion. Ironically,
the goal is not in the future. The ever-present goal is already here. The path
itself is the goal. This paradox characterizes the teachings. In many ways the
teachings are paradoxical because we approach everything from a material point
of view. We approach the teachings with a mentality of lack, which means we think
the teachings are going to give us something. We think we are going to get something
special from listening to teachings and practicing Dharma. But Dharma practice
does not turn us into somebody special. Dharma practice only reveals what has
always been present within each of us, but has been obscured by the pettiness
of our desire, ambition, and greed. This is why it is so important for us to always
check our motivation. When we check our motivation, we can see what is false and
discard it through simply seeing. The seeing itself is the energy of Bodhicitta
mind, of love and compassion. Seeing does not come from our intellect. Awareness
is unconfined, universal love, whereas the intellect, the ego, is limited to selfishness
and does not have the capacity to see itself. Ignorance, not recognizing who we
are, this is the characteristic of our delusion.
Bodhicitta Love Never Excludes
or Rejects Anybody
One of the most difficult ways to practice Bodhicitta, practicing
love, compassion, and forgiveness, is towards ourselves. This can be very difficult
for us. We can be very loving and compassionate and demonstrate honorable intentions
toward others, but we can be very hardhearted and closed-minded when it comes
to relating to our own suffering. Oftentimes we need to be the object of our own
compassion, because we have a deeply ingrained hatred towards ourselves, which
we do not completely understand, so we avoid dealing with it. This is why it is
so easy to take someone else as the object of our love and compassion. We like
to play the role of savior, trying to help others, so we can continue ignoring
our own issues. This is why it is so important to practice tonglen for ourselves
regularly. This is the most powerful healing method we can incorporate into our
lives. When we become capable of acknowledging our own suffering through tonglen
practice, we can swiftly resolve our karmic issues. We can experience the amazing
transformation of suffering into happiness.
It takes a lot of meditation and
Dharma practice to unfold love towards oneself and towards all other beings. When
we practice Bodhicitta mind we should not practice it partially. We should include
all sentient beings. This includes our coworkers and family members, people we
pass by on the street everyday, homeless people we see laying in a doorway, politicians
we disagree with, angry gas station attendants. Bodhicitta love never excludes
or rejects anybody. Ego has the tendency to reject and exclude certain people.
However, this Bodhicitta mind can include all other beings without reference point,
including ourselves. This is because within this Bodhicitta mind, there is no
idea of a self to construct barriers, to establish boundaries that keep others
out of our hearts and prevent us from entering into theirs. In Bodhicitta mind,
there is only one heart. To realize this we must start with ourselves. We have
to journey into the unknown territory of our own hearts to uncover the love and
compassion that is already there. This journey of uncovering love and compassion
is one of acknowledgment, acceptance, and letting go.
First we acknowledge
our resistance to life, to the unconditioned experience of love that exists as
what is in every moment. Then we accept this unresolved part of ourselves, the
resistance. We accept simply by being aware, without judgment or hesitation. We
face our unwillingness directly, without distraction, by asking ourselves, "What
is happening in my life right now?" We use this method of inquiry constantly
to reveal our resistance to our lives, lives which are actually always prefect
as they are. When we begin to see ourselves directly, our constant struggle to
do, to obtain in order to produce some sense of satisfaction in our lives, then
we being to experience some space around the resistance. And this space is acceptance,
a loosening of the tight grip of ego. To accept is to let go, which happens automatically.
However, this letting go might mean that we are bound to experience some unpleasantness,
some discomfort, but this is merely the release of bound up habitual energy. It
has no substance. It is just like a deluded dream. But to experience ourselves
in this way, we have to make some kind of sacrifice if we truly want to be free
from the karmic weight of our ignorance, of not understanding who we are. This
is because we are used to caving in on ourselves, disempowering ourselves by succumbing
to our habitual tendencies, which are created out of the hope and fear that maintain
the constant sense of struggle. There is no struggle, though, and there never
has been.
In actuality, the unfolding of this process is the birthing of a
complete willingness that evolves naturally into pure faith, which is the unlimited
expression of our Buddha nature. From this place of healing within ourselves,
we can then expand ourselves within the sphere of awareness, extending love and
compassion, tolerance and forgiveness, healing that includes all of the people
in our lives, especially the ones who are not the objects of our loving-kindness
and compassion. We have to recognize that the practice of Bodhicitta is the essence
of all other practice. Whether we are practicing meditation or mantra, or even
the highest yoga, ati yoga; the essence never changes-it is Bodhicitta mind, the
genuine heart of understanding. Bodhicitta is suffused with boundless love and
unbearable tenderness that expresses its concern for the welfare of others continuously.
If we lack recognition of this Bodhicitta mind we stray from the path that leads
to enlightenment. We only need to remind ourselves of this point constantly: that
we already possess Bodhicitta mind.
Bodhicitta is the Main Ingredient
What
is true spirituality and who owns it? Nobody owns it. As long as there is the
principle of Bodhicitta mind, then there is true spirituality. The moment there
is no longer Bodhicitta mind, it is no longer the path to enlightenment. We always
have to reexamine our heart and mind to see whether Bodhicitta is the main ingredient.
In the Dharma practice recipe, Bodhicitta is the main ingredient. All other practices
are just spice on top of that. Bodhicitta mind is the main ingredient. We must
have that or the recipe is not going to be very delicious or satisfying. We prove
it thus: when we do Dharma practice and forget to take Bodhicitta as the core
essence, no matter how much we put ourselves into retreat, we always go back to
the same samsara, the same hope, fear, and insecurity, because Bodhicitta has
been lacking in our Dharma recipe. By practicing Dharma without connecting to
our own hearts, our practice lacks the genuine flavor of a pure mind. So we have
to always take refuge and generate Bodhicitta as the essence of our recipe.
We
need to examine whether there is the Bodhicitta ingredient or not. We need to
examine our own motivation. I've found the most helpful practice in Mahayana is
to examine my own motivation. The essential message of the Mahayana teaching is
to put Bodhicitta into practice by continuously examining one's motivation. Examining
motivation is not about being harsh or judgmental to ourselves by being spiritually
or religiously restrictive. We do not have to give commentary to ourselves about
whether we are a good or bad spiritual practitioner. But it is good to reexamine
our mind without judgment. Examination is completely different. When we examine
our minds and the underlying motivation of our Dharma practice, we may sense that
there is a lack of love and compassion. That's fine. We only have to be aware
of this and then we can cultivate the desire to generate genuine Bodhicitta mind.
If we do have the Bodhicitta mind then we should be very joyous.
From the beginning,
when we practice Bodhicitta mind, the most important point is to acknowledge the
suffering of all sentient beings, including ourselves. We acknowledge by asking
ourselves, "What is the nature of the suffering we experience?" The
nature of suffering is just the experience of our minds. It does not exist in
physical circumstances. Suffering is a state of mind; the state of our minds when
they have been completely obscured by the delusions of hope and fear. Suffering
is only a state of mind. Our experience of suffering is like experiencing mental
hallucinations. By understanding the nature of reality through the realization
that all suffering is a fabrication of the mind, we come to understand the suffering
of all sentient beings. We develop this understanding by deeply contemplating
the sufferings of ourselves and all sentient beings.
Suffering
When Buddha
turned the Wheel of Dharma, the first thing he taught was the truth of suffering-the
suffering of all sentient beings. What is the meaning of meditating on the suffering
of all sentient beings? What is the use of it? We all have fear of suffering,
but we do not know exactly what it is. We do not find anyone who understands suffering,
unless they understand the very nature of suffering. Everyone in our society is
afraid of suffering. People who look very powerful outwardly are as afraid of
suffering as we are. It does not matter whether you are poor or rich, powerful
or weak, we all have this fear of suffering. Ironically, when we comprehend our
life's activities, we discover that there is this secret activity going on-that
we are trying to escape from suffering. We never have the chance to understand
what suffering is because we are always avoiding it. But what is suffering? Does
it truly exist or not? In our mind, we have this entrenched belief system that
suffering truly exists in the form of outer circumstances, such as loss and sickness.
This belief, in turn, creates the false idea that there is also happiness (which
is the opposite of suffering) that can be acquired through favorable circumstances,
such as being powerful or having lots of money. This deeply rooted belief system
is our habitual cage, one that we have willfully imprisoned ourselves in for many
lifetimes. We experience the suffering of suffering because we avoid it.
Meditation
on Suffering
But what is suffering? Buddha's way to gain freedom from suffering
is to not avoid it. In reality, there is nothing to avoid, because suffering does
not exist as a physical or material entity. The way to liberate ourselves from
suffering is to be willing to completely experience the suffering that we think
exists within ourselves. We have to journey down so to speak, to venture into
this unknown and undisclosed area of ourselves. Then we will understand freedom
from suffering by understanding its nature. When we meditate on suffering, there
is no longer fear and resistance in our heart. The suffering dissolves into its
true nature, which is ironically love and compassion. If we really meditate on
the suffering of another person, not just intellectually, but when we allow ourselves
to experience someone's pain and confusion, our experience becomes love, compassion,
and genuine caring born of understanding. This is because we have completely understood
ourselves, and there is no separation to cause limitless confusion.
When we
are having a bad day, what do we do? There are lots of things we can do. Some
of them are brilliant and some of them are not so brilliant. Sometimes they have
a mysterious cause, being triggered by certain events, circumstances, or personalities.
But the seeds of those sufferings are already in each of us. When we experience
suffering through emotion or a physical or mental state, our old habit is to run
away by distracting our minds-by watching television, listening to music, or entertaining
our minds by talking with people on the phone, and so forth. Perhaps we take intoxicating
substances. We employ many old tricks to run away from our suffering.
This
is the Mahayana and also the Dzogchen way to understand suffering. Meditation
on suffering is new to us. We have not done it. We may think we do not have to
do it, because we think we've experienced so much suffering. But we have never
truly allowed suffering to touch us before. In general, all of you are already
on the path and have done many practices, but still this is very new for us to
try to experience suffering. At the same time, all of us have many memories of
what we have experienced through countless challenges in our lives-loss, sickness,
and misfortune. We may think we have had enough education on suffering. But if
we think back, how have we actually encountered those circumstances? When we encounter
fear, hope, and anxiety, there is always struggle in each of us. We always try
to push away the reality we are going to encounter. We may experience suffering,
but we experience it with a barrier, with conflict. What we are doing now is to
encounter every circumstance that is happening in our lives, and experience everything
that arises in our mind. We do this whether the experience is one of pain or hope
or fear. It does not matter, and we are letting go of all our resistance; our
distrust of death, of sickness, of loss, and distrust of our own emotional experience
of pain and misery. We are going to touch them, feel them, and meditate on their
true nature. When we do this, we begin to clearly see the reality that our resistance
has been concealing. We begin to see what the true nature of suffering actually
is. We see that suffering is no longer caused by outer circumstances. The moment
we recognize that suffering is a mental state, we no longer have to try to get
rid of it. Suffering becomes a source of love, kindness, compassion, joy, and
bliss as well.
Perhaps you have heard of turning suffering into bliss. There
is no suffering to be rejected, or from which we have to escape. Understanding
the nature of suffering is already freedom from suffering. We cannot find freedom
from suffering in future circumstances, nor in Buddha heavens. The only time we
can find freedom from suffering is in the present moment, right in the suffering
itself. This is an important view we will have to talk about again. Many people
think Buddhism is pessimistic because it focuses so much on suffering. But the
Buddhist way to acquire freedom from suffering is in understanding its nature
and cause. Understanding the nature of suffering is going to bring us absolute
happiness as well. This whole Mahayana practice is focusing on the simple discipline
of feeling suffering. Sometimes it is very difficult to feel suffering. We have
been so resistant to pain, crisis, and misery, it is very difficult to open one's
heart to one's own suffering and the suffering of all beings. Sometimes we do
not want to see that other people are suffering. It is not a beautiful image to
see other people suffering.
One powerful way to do practice, a most heartfelt
way, is to reach your hand into someone's heart; to extend your heart into someone's
life. Sometimes it is good to talk to beings who are suffering, to listen to beings
who are suffering, to be in the space of those who are suffering. In the sutras,
Bodhisattvas always make promises to come back to samsara and guide sentient beings
who are lost. We have to practice these same Bodhisattva vows-to work tirelessly
for the welfare of others. We must follow in the footsteps of Manjushri and Avalokiteshvara
if we are to truly understand and live with genuine compassion. The footsteps
of those great Bodhisattvas, and for ourselves, since we are also great Bodhisattvas,
is to always come back to samsara without running away from the situations that
challenge us, that bring fear and pain into our lives. The main philosophy of
Bodhisattvas is to face phenomena that we are afraid of. This is a big shift in
our belief system and spiritual practice. It seems that all we are ever doing
is running away from samsara, from the sufferings of sickness, old age, and death.
But the Bodhisattva way is to run into the landfill, into the garbage place, where
the stench is consuming, where our senses are completely affronted. We have to
run into the place that most people are afraid of facing. This is a reverse process.
We are going where everyone is running away from, the place that everyone is pretending
does not exist. We are diving headlong into this resistance, into authentic living
and its flames of aversion and razors of guilt. We are marching into this cosmic
landfill with ultimate courage, which is devotion to our Buddha nature, that sees
Buddha nature in all things, in every being. It is there, in here, the cosmic
landfill, that we shall face and find ourselves directly. This is the unmistakable
path of compassion, the way of the Bodhisattva.
What we are working on is ourselves,
transcending the dualism of our own fear, aversion, and guilt. We cannot really
find anything outside ourselves that is the actual cause of suffering, aversion,
and pain. By facing and encountering all these unwanted circumstances this will
give us a very challenging and risky encounter on the spiritual path. We understand
that all of the suffering, aversion, and guilt we are trying to get rid of, does
not exist outside of ourselves. Then there is an immediate unveiling of freedom.
There is immediate relief, because we realize that all of the sufferings are our
own creation. We experience relief from the torment of suffering and exhaustion
because we no longer rely on outer conditions to satisfy us or give meaning to
our lives. We find total satisfaction and meaning within ourselves, just as we
are.
View of Practice
Buddhist practice is always based on view, meditation,
and action. I want to talk about Bodhicitta teachings within this context. According
to the Mahayana perspective, the view is the understanding of the nature of reality
through suffering. Meditation is like our tonglen practice or the daily spiritual
practices we do, that are based on love and compassion. Then we have action. What
is the significance of Bodhicitta practice in action? Bodhicitta in action is
going to bring up all of our limitations in an experiential way. From this direct
experience, we can acquire true actualization of Bodhicitta mind, not as a temporary
spiritual experience, but one that takes place deep in our hearts, one that we
can feel in our bones.
Maybe we are in a place where there is much suffering.
Our compassion will not be lost when we have true realization in our hearts. To
do that, we have to go beyond our fear and hope, which arises from resistance
to reality. To be a living Bodhisattva in this lifetime, we need to defeat or
conquer fear and hope. We should be encouraging ourselves to go into that cosmic
landfill and bring up all of our limitations to the surface. Then we will have
a chance to study them. We can study them and then go beyond them when we see
their true nature. This is the Bodhisattva's path.
There is a beautiful prayer
in the Bodhisattva's teachings. It says, "May I encounter all unwanted circumstances."
This is a revolutionary prayer, because we usually pray to not have misfortune.
Christians are not the only ones who grovel in this way. Buddhists do too. When
I was in the Jowo Rinpoche temple in Lhasa, I overheard all kinds of prayers-for
many yaks, success, longevity. But this Bodhisattva prayer is a very different
prayer, a reversal prayer. We are asking God, or Buddha, or Avalokiteshvara to
send us things we don't want. Of course, we don't need any unwanted circumstances.
All we have to do is face reality. Reality shatters our mind completely, pushes
our buttons, and brings up all the limitations of hope, fear, doubt, and laziness.
Then we can go beyond them, because they are seen to be as insubstantial as the
clouds passing in the sky. Like when I tell the Acharya Asanga story: because
he was willing to sacrifice his ego, Asanga licked the maggots out of the dog's
wound and had a direct experience of the Buddha Maitreya. By truly seeing someone's
suffering, in his case the dog that was suffering with a horrible wound, and the
maggots that were eating its flesh, he was able to completely experience love
and compassion. Similarly, sometimes all we need to do is face unwanted circumstances
in order to completely wake up to reality. When we do this, compassion and love
arises in us spontaneously. This is the courageous Bodhisattva action.
For
instance, when we hate somebody there is a part of ourselves that is not perceiving
the pain and suffering of that person. We are perceiving the person mechanically,
in a material way. This is the ultimate blindness, when we do not perceive fundamental
components of other beings, when we do not see their own enlightened potential
and thus mistake appearances for actual reality. Let's say you don't like somebody.
There is a part of us that has rejected that person because we have perceived
that person as a mechanical entity. This means we do not perceive them as having
thoughts and feelings and deeply ingrained tendencies, the same as ourselves.
We see that person as separate and different, not recognizing the fear and existential
pain manifesting in them because we have not addressed these elements within our
own being. But when we recognize those components-fear, pain, suffering, the rich
emotional vitality of life-love and compassion arise naturally, without intention.
Bodhicitta mind springs forth from oneself without any effort. When we don't recognize
those fertile qualities of beings that contain the awakened potential, we may
try to have more love and compassion, but these vain efforts only turn our hearts
into rock. Our mind becomes more untamed because it continues to rely on fabrications
about how we think others should be, because we persist through unchecked notions
about ourselves, about how we think we should be. But the Bodhisattva's way of
developing love and compassion is to visit the cosmic landfill, which means going
beyond our habitual inclinations that perceive everything as separate, and digging
into the rich soil of our minds to discover our naked awakened state.
Transformation
The
essential method of Mahayana Buddhism is transformation: the Bodhisattva transforms
what is negative into positive, what is bad luck into good luck, the unfavorable
into favorable. Transforming all negativity into positive conditions is called
gyurwa-transformation. What does this mean? The Bodhisattva takes every situation
as a chance to see one's limitations and go beyond them, to discover the ultimate
enlightenment in oneself by bringing out one's innate love and compassion. Every
situation, every chance encounter, every heartbreak, every thought is a precious
opportunity to awaken completely if we have the courage to remain beholden to
the open heart, Bodhicitta mind. This is the Bodhisattva's view, as well as meditation
and action. When we practice this path we have to transform our fundamental attitude
towards life, towards what happiness actually is, towards suffering, towards what
our values are. We have to let go of our old karmic belief systems that are based
on not understanding who we are. Those persistent views are our habitual tendencies.
Life
itself is not samsara. Samsara can never be found as an outer circumstance. It
is not in the elements, nor is it in the past, present, or future. Samsara, suffering,
is in our own mind, based on fundamental ignorance about reality. We have to see
the falsehood of those belief systems that we have held in our minds. By awakening
to the false, we awaken to who we are and what reality is. In this awakened state
we begin to see that there is no suffering, no negativity, no circumstance that
can cause hope and fear within. Our struggle is the creation of our own mind,
our own resistance to reality. We are not running away from any circumstances
whatsoever-not running away from what we are facing right now, or what we will
have to face tomorrow morning. We are simply opening our heart and flowing with
life's natural direction without fighting the flow. When there is no resistance,
there is a sense that everything is a blessing, whatever happens. Whether there
is good fortune or bad fortune, a Bodhisattva perceives everything as a spiritual
lesson in how to be content. Thus a Bodhisattva exudes, without effort, an inexhaustible
generosity, love, and compassion toward all beings. Everything is Buddha's voice,
a living teaching, thus there is a sense of reverence that treats every circumstance
as some kind of sacred phenomena, a sacred entity.
Everything is a Blessing
A
Bodhisattva sees everything as a blessing, as joy, because a Bodhisattva does
not see any stain in any person or in any circumstances. A Bodhisattva sees all
of life as being an education, therefore a blessing. Shantideva says, "If
we can learn the Dharma teachings, the six paramitas, from sentient beings, as
we can learn from the enlightened ones, why don't we pay homage to sentient beings
like we do to the Buddhas?" Everybody is a teacher, and everything they throw
on us is a teaching. People may abuse us, they may be mean to us, be judgmental,
but everything is a teaching to the Bodhisattva. The Bodhisattva does not have
to fight for his own well being. The tougher life is for the Bodhisattva, the
stronger he or she becomes. When a sentient being goes through tough times, however,
he or she becomes weaker and weaker, protecting the wounds incurred by the delusion
of the sense of separation.
Why does the Bodhisattva become so happy and so
mature when going through hardships, and why do ordinary sentient beings become
so injured? Obviously the difference in experience has to do with the difference
in perception. Sentient beings look at things in a dualistic way, in terms of
good and bad, fortune and misfortune, what can be had versus what one isn't getting.
A Bodhisattva does not look at things in this dualistic way. Everything is good
weather. There is no bad weather. If the sun shines, it is good. If it rains,
it is good. There is only one circumstance, there is only good luck, because everything
is a blessing. Everything can be used to bring up one's own limitations and be
a teaching to help us learn to be happy, to acquire freedom in natural unfoldment.
What could be better than this, if it is the cause of enlightenment? Every circumstance
is the cause to be enlightened.
Bodhisattva's Heart Wish
We say going to
school is good fortune, or winning the lottery is good fortune. But that is understanding
in a very mundane way. If we look at life from a Bodhisattva's perspective, everything
is good fortune, because a Bodhisattva is life. His or her heart becomes bigger
and bigger, infused with more and more happiness, with greater and greater love.
This happens because there is no distinction between what is thought and felt,
seen and heard, tasted and touched, even smelled. Everything is the display of
the Bodhisattva's pure heart. A Bodhisattva can go anywhere, do anything, even
act outrageous at times, because the Bodhisattva only experiences love and compassion.
The
Bodhisattva's heart wish is for all the sentient beings who are connected with
him or her, in a positive or negative way, to be liberated through his or her
path, through his or her activities. People who love the Bodhisattva, or people
who torture or try to hurt him or her, there is no difference. Both are seen as
teachers. When encountering the challenges of life, Bodhisattvas develop and practice
more compassion, more love, and more joy because their sole intention is to awaken
completely for the benefit of all beings.
Adversaries are the Greatest Teachers
Enemies
may be a greater teacher than anyone else in our life, because the enemy can really
push our buttons and bring out all of our limitations. It is very easy to love
our dog, our friends, or our relatives, sometimes, and it is easy to love people
who love us. But it is difficult to love people who don't mean anything to us,
especially people who are negative toward us. Especially if you are in contact
with them, it is hard to have true, genuine compassion toward them. Let's say
you loved all sentient beings except one. That would be enough to keep you from
enlightenment. Just by hating that one single being would keep you in samsara.
So we have to rely on the enemy as a powerful object and teacher and go beyond
our conceptual hang-ups to be truly Buddha, truly Bodhisattva. These Bodhisattva
teachings are quite amazing. We are comprehending the view and now we have to
keep the commitment.
Meditation: Just Love
How do we develop this Bodhisattva
practice in our everyday life? We have to understand the power of the Bodhisattva's
path. The power of the Bodhisattva path resides in the fundamental Mahayana view
that all suffering is the cause of happiness; this is emptiness realizing itself.
Where do we begin with this view? How can we cultivate this path? True commitment
comes from your own heart. And we have to have inner discipline, which is a sense
of responsibility towards ourselves, and the commitment everyday in each moment
to examine our minds. We have to respond to reality, which is whatever comes into
our lives. From this perspective, all occurrences take place within empty space
and are thus available to us as opportunities to awaken. In every moment we have
to respond to situations, not with hope and fear, but from this completely new
dimension of understanding. If someone loves you, how do you respond? With love.
If someone hates you, how do you respond? With love. If situations are good, how
do you respond? With love. If they are bad, how do you respond? Do you migrate
or change your lifestyle? Just love. Love is the only solution. The way of the
Bodhisattva is the wish-fulfilling jewel that can provide us with all the happiness
we wish for.
Revealing the Essence
We are unconditionally Buddhas, without
need of meditation or Dharma practice. At the same time, we are trapped by afflicted
emotions and limited dualistic perceptions. So we need to ask, "What is the
main hindrance that prevents us from unfolding our primordial essence?" It
is the sense of "I" that prevents us from actualizing who we are in
this moment, who we are as the mind of love and wisdom. Ego is a very powerful
habit that continuously obstructs us because it is the most entrenched, deeply
rooted habit that has occupied our lives. Therefore, it requires some kind of
path. This is the work of purification. At the same time, we must recognize our
own Buddha essence, otherwise the practice becomes stale and lifeless because
we have no target, no real understanding of why we are practicing; we do not know
what we are really aspiring towards. All beings have Buddha essence, therefore
sentient beings and Buddhas are the same. We are not trying to be anybody else,
not a saint, not a spiritual person. We are not trying to become anyone in particular,
because we are already Buddha as we are. Who we are in this very moment is completely
divine.
But we do not recognize who we are? Do you understand this tendency?
If we have not recognized our Buddha essence, then no matter what we try to acquire
from the outside, we will be ridden with the same lingering sense of dissatisfaction.
We will be coupled with guilt, shame, and regret, because we have this intuitive
knowledge that we are somehow cheating ourselves out of real happiness. There
is no lasting happiness in acquisition. True happiness arises from the contemplation
and recognition of our Buddha essence, which is a surrendering, regardless of
what we are experiencing, whether we are joyous or sad.
The great Tibetan
lamas I have known never experienced any sense of judgment towards themselves.
They really live in each moment because they do not want anything. We never live
in this present moment because we get stuck with memories of the past concerning
unfortunate events. This tendency creates obscurations in the moment. We also
think about the future, projecting the obsessions of our insecurity and uncertainty
regarding fear of death. This makes us strive to achieve so that we may continue
our petty evasions of reality. But living in this moment is the most amazing spiritual
achievement, and the practice of compassion is about living in this moment.
Experiencing
Naturalness
Do we live in the past, in the future, or do we live now? We only
live now! But where is this now, and who is living it? Living in the moment is
the most authentic spiritual discipline we can cultivate-connecting with every
moment of reality, aware of what is happening around us in an openhearted way,
open to the suffering and the beauty of all beings. Living in this moment is the
only place we can practice compassion, the only time we can be genuinely concerned
with the welfare of others. By being caught up in the past, identified with memory,
or projecting into the future, identifying with our fantasies, we are unable to
live and connect with other beings, naturally unfolding our innate love and compassion.
This present moment is called the meditative moment. In this moment there is meditation.
We do not have to practice love and compassion. It already exists. So when we
practice tonglen, it is actually the natural state of things.
When the sun
shines, the flower opens automatically. So meditation is non-doing, it does not
require any effort or discipline to a certain degree. Realization is just a matter
of being here, letting go. Then rigpa (pristine, nondual awareness) arises naturally,
Bodhicitta mind arises naturally. Patrul Rinpoche said, "When we are able
to relax, meditation grabs us, but when we can't relax, we constantly chase meditation,
and experience no joy, no peace. This is the wrong understanding of meditation."
Wrong meditation is like the hunter chasing deer, but real mediation is like a
puppy dog following you around. We like to stuff our minds with advice and spiritual
literature because we have not recognized our natural state. Our natural state-of-being
automatically inspires confidence and trust. But real meditation is a non-doing
art. All we have to do is be in this moment, then meditation arises naturally.
We only have to open our hearts to all phenomenon happening in this moment, as
this moment. When we are open in this way, the gateway to Buddha essence opens
and Buddha essence reveals itself as the all-pervasive, natural vibrancy of this
moment, where everything is seen and understood, the suffering as well as the
happiness. We see the Buddha essence inherent in all beings.
But we tend to
practice idiot compassion, which is limited, because it is based on duality; it
is mixed with judgment. Our latent tendency is to hide from the complete enjoyment
of this moment, which entails a frightening sense of abandonment to our egos.
We feel bad or sorry for those people on the streets, for those who are less fortunate,
for those whom we perceive have problems, but this is not genuine because we are
not recognizing Buddha essence. This is because we are not seeing our own Buddha
essence! Without recognizing the inner divinity we do not experience Bodhicitta;
we experience idiot compassion which has no wisdom. Authentic compassion, which
is Bodhicitta mind, is the union of emptiness and awareness-this is the natural
extension of wisdom and love. Bodhi means awakening, citta means heart. So we
are talking about the awakened heart, which is the full realization of the Buddha
essence of one's self and all sentient beings. Bodhicitta recognizes the inner
divinity as well as the illusion of suffering.
The First Step
As Bodhisattvas,
we have to live with the boundless qualities of love and compassion; that is wisdom
extended towards all beings. But we have to start somewhere. What is the first
step? We start with one person. Recognize one person's Buddha essence. For instance,
it is easy to recognize the Buddha essence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, but
not Hitler or Chairman Mao. It is easy to have compassion for those who are oppressed,
but what about the oppressors? We must include all beings in our compassion. From
the essential Dharma perspective, we cannot judge anybody, including ourselves.
We must always have good will and understanding. It is so important to distinguish
between the relative truth and Dharma truth, which is ultimate and does not exclude
anybody. If we are not mindful, it is very easy to judge, to condemn, because
this tendency is very subtle. From the perspective of a Bodhisattva, we practice
love and compassion towards everybody, recognizing their Buddha essence. We practice
love and compassion to recognize our own essence as well. Love and compassion
are the natural expressions of this essence. This understanding should transform
our perception radically.
Compassion is beyond our ordinary samsaric perception,
which usually approaches phenomenon with reactions to appearances, and reactive
judgments of good and bad. Compassion does not exclude anybody. But we have dualistic
radar that is constantly assessing, interpreting, scrutinizing inner and outer
environments, and this is based on ego, on the sense of "I." This activity,
the material busyness, is actually true spiritual laziness. But pure vision, which
transcends the sense of "I" by seeing it as merely a fabrication, embraces
all beings, all situations, all experiences as reflections of itself as love and
compassion. This is the pure land of Akanistha, which is our pure perception.
So when we make aspirations to be reborn there, we are aspiring to have pure perception
towards all beings, not separating, excluding, or judging. All beings are ourselves.
Everyone becomes us and we become them. There is no separation between anyone.
There is no self and other. There is one enlightened field; a unified field of
awareness-being. This is the state of liberation.
Happiness
Happiness has
nothing to do with anything external. We can be in the most dreadful situation,
but with pure perception, and everything is the pure land. Within the state of
rigpa, everything is pure. There is the fearlessness of quietude because our minds
are purified. This is liberation, enlightenment, and cannot be altered. Happiness
and suffering do not come from outside, which is contrary to our present philosophy.
We are always trying to invite positive, favorable circumstances and avoid negative
circumstances. However, when we adopt spiritual disciplines, we must experience
a shift in our view of reality. The right view is most important, having the right
view of the nature of reality. For example, I can change the external details
of my life, like diet, exercise, and lifestyle, but to change the inner view requires
tremendous sacrifice of the tiny little ego. However these external changes can
be worthwhile because they are symbolic-they remind us about the inner view, and
encourage us to continue unfolding our natural spiritual qualities. My teacher,
Lama Tsultrim Gyamsto, always asked whomever came to him to make a commitment
to practice, upholding at least one vow. This was to hold a symbolic reminder
in one's mind about the commitment to transformation. This is very auspicious
for us because it helps us to follow through with the true change, which comes
from within one's self, purifying habitual tendencies and unfolding natural Buddha
qualities.
Being In The Moment
The essence of Dharma is personal change;
transformation of habitual tendencies into wisdom qualities. We are not changing
who we are, but rather we are letting go of that which obscures our true nature.
This moment holds everything we need. This moment is the perfect opportunity to
uphold and maintain our commitment to unfolding this inherent love and compassion.
The object in need of love and compassion exists with us right here in this moment,
sitting next to us, in our family, in our community, within ourselves. The contents
of our lives are all that we need to awaken and to sustain through practicing
love and compassion. The open heart always knows what is needed, because awareness
of this moment is this moment itself. Sometimes this requires very specific actions,
our time, effort, finances, all of which aid us in overcoming our selfishness,
insecurity, fear, and hope.
We have made this commitment, which is aspiration
and action, to be loving to all beings, free from any anger or hatred. We must
put this great aspiration of Bodhicitta into action constantly, ceaselessly. We
can feed ants, rescue animals that will be killed or slaughtered, go to hospitals
where there are sick people, help homeless people by giving time, acknowledgment,
perhaps money. There are so many things we can do to serve beings, and this loving
energy is contagious. One time I freed lobsters that were going to be cooked,
boiled alive. The Chinese man I bought them from explained to me how to cook them,
but I told him I was going to free them in the ocean. He called me "good
man" after that, and began giving me lobsters for free. So his own sensitivity
was sparked by this simple action, and it inspired him to extend love and generosity.
These kinds of acts help to invoke the ultimate mind of love and compassion, which
is the realization of our Buddha nature. When we hold in mind that every action
is dedicated to the enlightenment of all beings, our hearts become tenderized,
and we open to our essence and to the essence of all beings. We live for the benefit
of all beings. This attitude is revolutionary. When we eat, sit, walk, and sleep,
we can always hold in our minds the welfare of all beings. This is the teaching
of the authentic Bodhisattva way of life.
Courage
How can we engage in the
Bodhisattva's practice, like the six paramitas, in our everyday life? Application
is the key point of this practice. We must have dedication. This dedication is
the essential practice of Bodhisattvas. There are three essential principles of
Bodhisattvas: noble motivation, noble wisdom (wisdom of emptiness), and noble
dedication. These are not really separate principles. Dedication means dedicating
all of one's activities, one's life, one's possessions, as the cause of bringing
liberation to yourself and humanity, to all sentient beings without exception.
Whether you are Christian, Muslim, or Buddhist Bodhisattva, the principles are
the same: To be a Bodhisattva is to be a living saint. A Bodhisattva is one who
unfolds all his loving compassion towards all beings.
The wonderful thing is
that Bodhisattva principles can be blended into our lives. When we get deeper
and deeper into the essence of Dharma practice, we reach a landmark-there is no
longer a distinction between life and Dharma. It seems life is Dharma and Dharma
is life. But when we are first scratching the surface of practice, there seems
to be a difference between them. Like we have to reject life or be somebody in
order to practice Dharma. This is what we call the Hinayana path. I think this
is very good for awhile. But once we become a more evolved practitioner, we see
that life and Dharma can be blended together. It depends on what kind of life
we are going to choose. Life itself can be a powerful vehicle to practice love,
wisdom, and the six paramitas.
Remember that the main Bodhisattva commitment
is always to come back to samsara and benefit other beings. The meaning of coming
back to samsara is to embrace your life, not to run away from your duties. This
requires some sense of courage. The sattva in Bodhisattva means hero or heroine.
It requires tremendous spiritual courage to embrace your life no matter how challenging
it is. The moment you decide to embrace your life, all the conflict and suffering
and detrimental situations come to an end.
Life
Each of us has a different
life, different ways of being human and experiencing our life. Let's talk about
what life is. Whatever is happening is your life. It is not past or future, it
is the present. Whatever you are experiencing right now is your life. Being married,
not married, being a monk, being a nun, this is life. Maybe you could be one of
the people who win the lottery. That is your life. Or maybe you are one of the
people who does not win. That is your life. Regardless, whether good conditions
or bad conditions, that is your life. The question is: Are you enjoying being
in your life in this moment? We need to ask ourselves this question: "Am
I enjoying this moment, being who I am, and embracing whatever is happening around
me?"
It is possible that somebody may be dying. That is his or her life.
Or maybe somebody is becoming enlightened right now. That is his or her life.
Life is the present. We must ask this fundamental spiritual as well as philosophical
inquiry, "Am I enjoying this life?" This is a very profound inquiry.
"Am I enjoying this moment?" We may discover that we are not enjoying
this life in this very moment. What is the pattern behind that? We are being attached
to the past, about pleasant memories, or projecting those grand illusory fantasies
into the future. Maybe we are afraid or there is resistance to experiencing what
is happening right now. Maybe we are resisting the thoughts, feelings, or sensations
that are arising right now. Maybe they seem too detrimental or unpleasant to us.
So we are going to the past or the future, not being in the moment, embracing
the inner and outer life. However, embracing life means surrendering to all conditions,
outside and inside, whatever arises. Escapism is the opposite of the sattva, the
spiritual courage, because we are running away from samsara, we are running away
from reality. Being a Bodhisattva is walking towards reality with great courage,
appreciation, and joy. A Bodhisattva is somebody who has true spiritual courage,
who is completely free from fear and hope.
Bodhisattvas are unique heroes.
Worldly heroes may have courage, but they always have hope and fear. Bodhisattvas
always transcend hope and fear because Bodhisattvas perceive everything as a blessing.
Everything is an amazing source of wisdom and knowledge. Bodhisattvas do not have
fear of life because they realize fear is only a mental projection. Bodhisattvas
have already awakened to the nature of everything in reality, they do not have
a sense of fear and are ready to embrace everything. Also, every time a Bodhisattva
goes through life's challenges, it makes him or her even more compassionate. Situations
enhance one's commitment and practice.
Embrace Life
Now you can see that
our tendency to run away from life comes from being unable to transcend our own
fear or resistance. This is the reason. So the Bodhisattva's main commitment to
practice is the promise to embrace life. All the principles and precepts of Mahayana
can be included in this simple statement: embracing life, whatever may come. If
you are dying, embrace it. If you are winning the lottery, perhaps that would
be easier to embrace. Or if you were enlightened in this moment, perhaps it would
be easy to embrace. If somebody is being unfriendly to you right now, embrace
that, without any action, without trying to defend yourself. If somebody is really
kind to you, embrace that. Embrace every moment. Whatever is happening to us is
unavoidable reality. We can deny it, we can distract ourselves, but we cannot
avoid it. When we are sick, we have to face reality in order to get well.
In
India, people can pay baksheesh (bribe) for anything, but not for impermanence
and reality. We have to go through an amazing change, the way we look at what
we believe is happiness, what is good, what is beauty. We have to change completely,
because our old perception is based on dualistic mind or false belief systems,
the ego. The ego is the prime factor in samsara, all the tragedies and sorrow
we go through. We have to sue the ego, bring it into court, as the culprit for
all our suffering. There is no culprit outside of ourselves that we can blame
for this suffering. The ego, this one misperception, causes all samsara. Ego is
the Pandora's box. The main practice of the Bodhisattva is conquering the ego.
Shantideva says if you conquer the enemy from outside, there will always be more
enemies. But if you conquer the ego inside, you will be completely victorious.
Imagine
the earth is covered with thorns and we can't walk it because it damages our feet.
Then imagine trying to cover the whole earth with leather so we could travel in
comfort. How absurd! It would be impossible! Instead, we only need to wear just
enough leather on our own feet, then we can walk the entire earth without mishap.
Dealing with ourselves, making our own issues the priority, eliminates so much
of what is unnecessary. If we try to defeat death, misfortune, sickness, enemies,
our perception of bad luck, we will die tired, broken, and totally unsuccessful.
We can never defeat them all. We may defeat one but there will always be more.
But if we look inwardly and find the root of our resistance to reality, we can
defeat the ultimate enemy. Then we will be the victorious one. That is what we
call an arhat, conqueror, the one who conquered not outer enemies but inner enemies,
the ego. This whole process is about subduing one's own ego, which is the source
of samsara. When we identify ourselves with this ego, we cannot recognize our
Buddha essence, the nature of our minds, rigpa. We cannot unfold love and compassion
for other beings. As much as we are able to eradicate our identification with
ego, we come closer and closer to who we are, which is the authentic realization
of love and compassion.
Ego
Ego consists of various misconceptions, attachment
to name, body, possessions, and our life stories. It is all hallucination, a dark
phantom. It seems so concrete to us because we have habitually believed in this
sense of "I." This ego is deeply rooted in each of us. The moment we
are born we have innate ego. It is the most ancient habit we have. It is the fundamental
tendency. Right now we are not doing so much dedication. Our life is mostly lived
under the influence of ego. We have to change and dedicate our life to the cause
of liberation of all beings, not to the strengthening of ego. Our ego and attachment
become stronger and stronger until we really undertake the Bodhisattva's path
and purify that false belief system. The practice of tonglen is a very good practice
to do this. Tonglen is a very powerful method that allows us to deal directly
with our egos. A Bodhisattva is in a battle, not with outer circumstances, but
with transforming the ego. Bodhisattvas do not use weapons, guns, spears, anger,
or hatred. He or she uses the weapon of wisdom-the realization of emptiness, or
Buddha mind. This is the Bodhisattva's secret weapon.
In tonglen, we have to
face our ego right on the spot. Especially if we are practicing the visualization
of giving away everything to others and taking their suffering into ourselves.
Our egos wake up right there, saying, "No, no, I can't do that!" It
is a reversal practice. We see that ego pop up, wrapped in fire with lots of teeth.
In Tibetan Buddhism, the demons are a symbol of ego. The wrathful deities, like
Vajrakilaya, they are trampling on demons. We can visualize the ego as very angry,
insecure, feisty, obnoxious, and demanding. We can feel that ego. We do not have
to try to do analytical meditation. We can feel it immediately when we practice
tonglen. I think tonglen is one of the most transformative practices. Ego is a
misperception of who we are. It's an "I" that is perceived as a separate
entity from everything else. But if we want to feel it, perhaps the best technique
is not to go through intellectual inquiry, but to do tonglen practice. We feel
ego right there in the form of fear and aversion. We immediately feel fear of
suffering, stinginess of not being able to let go of our happiness and possessions.
Even though there is no form or color, we can feel the ego in our flesh and in
our bones. Ego just pops up.
There is a method by Kadampa masters called a
hunter's expression-they hunt an animal and put smoke on the other side because
the animal is very smart. It is the same with facing ego. When dealing with the
ego and the kleshas (defilements), we do not delay or procrastinate. We immediately
attack, right there, by meditating on the nature of reality. We subdue ego right
there, right here, in this moment, by realizing it's nature. But we have to be
mindful in every moment, otherwise one spark, which is thought, sets the whole
forest, which is consciousness, on fire.
We have to be mindful at a very deep
level. Not just seeing that cars are coming and going, whether people are walking
around, whether it's raining, how the flesh feels. Mindfulness is about observing
one's own emotions arising and catching them on the spot. When we are mindful
and witnessing whatever is arising in our consciousness, if love and compassion
arises, rejoice. If we are experiencing kleshas, like hope, fear, and identification
with ego, witness that and be mindful without changing or altering anything. My
teacher said, "Be selfish mindfully." Mindfulness is all that matters.
It's the catalyst. Mindfulness is the ground of all development. We have to be
like the Tibetan hunter who is waiting to see if kleshas come up, without any
procrastination, and we use the method, whether tonglen or deity yoga, and we
allow ourselves to experience instant liberation. This is being taught a great
deal in both Mahayana and Vajrayana teachings.
Instant Liberation
What does
instant liberation mean? From the Hinayana perspective, liberation is a result
that one will acquire in the future, like in the next life. In both Mahayana and
Vajrayana, especially in Dzogchen, liberation is instant. It is not a future achievement.
It is the experience of being awakened to reality, being liberated from attachment
to suffering, hope and fear. It is the experience of great bliss and ultimate
freedom that we find the moment that we let go of the grasping to the kleshas
and ego's identity. With the letting go, which is simply clear seeing, there is
always a sense of instant liberation. In this case, the spiritual path is not
a gradual path. It is an instant path. What does this mean? We are not having
the thought that Dharma is a gradual process. It is not like going to the gym
to build muscle, which is a gradual process, or engaging in a long project. Liberation
is always what we experience right now, being liberated from the chains of our
own kleshas (defilements). Liberation should be arising the moment we use these
techniques. Liberation itself is the technique.
If one becomes attached to
the kleshas of anger or hope or fear, we do not need to take a secondary method
to free ourselves. We only need to look at the very source of that klesha, the
seeing itself cuts through attachment instantly without spinning off in different
directions. If we do spin off in different directions, it is like putting a target
to the East and shooting the arrow to the West. We have to use our Dharma practice
as the direct and immediate antidote. Then we can experience instant liberation.
That is the ultimate liberation. There is no liberation that is higher when we
experience being liberated towards our own inclinations of ego.
Enlightenment
Is Not a Gradual Path
Enlightenment is not a gradual path. We practice meditation
and detachment toward kleshas in each moment. We can experience liberation in
each moment. This is what Dzogchen practice is all about. If we meditate on Dzogchen
in the morning, we are enlightened in the morning. If we meditate on Dzogchen
in the evening, we are enlightened in the evening, because what we experience
with Dzogchen is instant liberation. If we are seeking for liberation somewhere
else, we are missing the vital point. In the Mahayana and Dzogchen teachings there
is great emphasis on understanding what liberation is, otherwise we look for conceptual
liberation, one based on time or space or conditions.
What is liberation?
Are we expecting liberation from another source, or from a pure land, or an achievement
we can acquire in the future or the next life? If so, then we are missing the
point. Liberation is a momentary inner experience, being emancipated from one's
own inner kleshas. Liberation happens spontaneously in this very moment. There
is no need to wait. No gradual process. It happens spontaneously when we do the
meditation, which is an utter relaxation of our mental fixations.
And after
we are liberated, we go back again and are attached to our emotions and kleshas.
In Dzogchen teachings, liberation is not a static or permanent state. Of course
there is ultimate Buddhahood, which is permanent, but the liberation we talk about
happens in the present moment. We do more practice, more practice, and we have
a more continuous experience of liberation. But in the beginning we experience
liberation, then go back to our old habit. Then we experience liberation again
and go back again. Liberation is a momentary experience. That is what we call
the mukya. It is an instant, spontaneous experience. It is not a reward or a nirvana
experienced in a distant heaven. It is in each of us. We can experience it spontaneously.
We do not have to wait for it. There is no cause or condition to liberation. We
do not have to cultivate causes for liberation. We do not have to journey or accumulate.
The moment we are willing to cut through our own attachments and kleshas we are
liberated. For example, let's say we have very powerful karmic tendencies. We
may have all these negative karmas we have accumulated through many lifetimes.
But when we meditate on Bodhicitta mind, in that moment we experience liberation.
It may be long or short, but in that moment we experience liberation.
The great
yogi Shabkar gave this powerful analogy: a cave has been dark for countless ages,
but the moment someone brings light into the cave, the darkness vanishes. In the
same way, no matter how many karmic conditions we have, if we just meditate in
the nature of mind and experience ultimate Bodhicitta, it does not have anything
to do with our previous karma or conditions-we experience liberation. We need
not look for a greater more advanced form of liberation. There is no such thing.
If we are experiencing hatred or judgment and we are seeking for liberation in
the future, that desire doesn't help us liberate from judgment. But if we practice
meditation on love and compassion then we are instantly liberated. That is nirvana
too. It is a direct, spontaneous experience.
When we are able to recognize
the nature of mind, that experience is liberation. When we are able to have unconditional
love towards all beings, even one moment, that experience is what we call liberation.
When we are able to let go of grasping toward a certain state of our klesha (habitual
tendencies/defilements), that is liberation, too. Liberation always happens in
each of us. When we are able to transcend our fear of death and impermanence,
that state of our mind is what we call liberation. When we are attached to something,
any object or phenomena, in one moment we say, "I am going to let go of that
attachment." In that moment we experience nirvana. When we are able to open
our heart and embrace our lives and all beings without limitation, in a vast and
spacious way, that is liberation.
Liberation does not come without challenges.
It is all right if we fall back into our old habits of hope and fear. Every time
we cut through attachment there is liberation. The perfect meditation does not
have to be always completely perfect. We may think it is a static state of our
minds without any more challenges. But actually, the perfect meditation can be
associated with passions and habits and so on, because we can apply meditation
as a way to cut through attachment. So meditation is the act of practicing liberating
oneself by cutting through our grasping to kleshas (tendencies) as being real.
The
Immeasurable Path
The path of the Bodhisattva is known as the immeasurable
path. Immeasurable means that on that journey everything is immeasurable. The
number of sentient beings is immeasurable. So is the love and compassion of the
Bodhisattva and the altruistic activity, and so is the freedom and liberation
of the Bodhisattva. So how are we going to experience this? There is no doubt
that there are immeasurable sentient beings. How can we have immeasurable love,
compassion, and altruistic enlightened activities when we are so troubled by our
own habitual tendencies of hope and fear? How can we generate ocean-like activities
when we have a difficult time helping just one person?
If we understand that
there is intrinsic Bodhicitta in ourselves, then we do not need to try to develop
love and compassion. We only need to awaken to this natural state of our minds,
the very depth of our minds. When we open and unfold, that is immeasurable love.
It is bigger than us, bigger than our individual abilities, bigger than our own
ego. On the ordinary level, we perceive ourselves as finite and fragile, as very
limited individuals, subject to doubt, fear, insecurity, death, and impermanence.
We see ourselves as very fragile because we have not discovered our vastness;
because we have identified with this false identity of ego. We perceive ourselves
as being separate from everything, so we perceive ourselves as dominated by fear.
Fear is inherent in the dualistic view of the world. However, when we go beyond
that ego, ego's fragile identity, and we open to our true character, then we are
quite amazing beings. We are then capable of manifesting immeasurable enlightened
qualities. We are Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. When we realize this, then there is
this ever-accessible, unfathomable divinity that lies within. But to realize and
actualize this often hidden potential, we sometimes have to practice prayer and
meditation.
Faith and Devotion
Maybe when we encounter a very challenging
situation, it may provoke us to contact that immeasurable love within ourselves.
Do not run away from the suffering of other people. If people need us, we have
to be the witness of their suffering. We can talk to people who are sick, lonely,
and insecure. We can have direct connection with people who are hungry and thirsty,
tormented by the causes and conditions of their lives. Just by being the loving
eyewitness to others, it opens our immeasurable intrinsic wisdom and compassion.
Or we can recite prayers to the Buddhas or spiritual teachers or whatever is the
object of our faith. Sometimes when we recite a prayer it can serve as a very
powerful catalyst to bring up that intrinsic love and compassion.
In Mahayana
Buddhism we visualize a deity during post-meditation, because it is easy to lose
our grip on meditation after our meditation. So after meditation we always visualize
Avalokiteshvara, because it is the archetype or logo of compassion and love. We
visualize Avalokiteshvara on our shoulder when we walk. When we sit we visualize
him on our head. When we go to bed, we visualize him in our heart. When we eat
food we visualize him in our throat. This is complete, simple yoga. Dream yoga,
sleeping yoga, working yoga, walking yoga, sitting yoga. Totally complete. It
makes sense, actually.
For me, the most powerful visualization was to visualize
some of my teachers, like Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok. When I visualize him it is impossible
to do something really bad, or to get really angry, because I have such positive
association with him. I would never steal or lie with him in my mind, it's impossible.
When I am going through emotional upheaval, I think about him or my teacher and
liberation is right there. There are many methods we can use, and we have to choose
which one is best for us. Recitation of mantra can be very powerful, too. Or the
notion of dedicating every single activity to the liberation of all sentient beings
is very powerful as well.
Immeasurable compassion is in each of us, but it
is just dormant at the moment. We have so much doubt in our mind. We have so much
doubt about our own life, whether we can help ourselves and survive or not. But
now in Mahayana Buddhism we are talking about whether we can save all beings,
not just help ourselves. So we have to develop this immeasurable love and compassion.
Revealing
the Nature of Doubt
When we meditate on ourselves, we will actually discover
that there is this immense amount of self-doubt and insecurity. It is everywhere.
Doubt in relationship to our survival, to our spiritual practice, our connection
to people, health, mortality. Our mind is run by these doubts which are created
by hope and fear. Why do we have so many kleshas (habitual tendencies)? Because
we are identified with ego. But we are going to identify with the vast spacious
place where there is no longer any doubt or hope or fear. That is called immeasurable
love. When we have this immeasurable love we are able to engage in immeasurable
activity. We may ask, "Since I can barely manage my own life, how can I help
infinite beings?" It seems that there isn't time or energy to do our own
stuff, our personal stuff. Do we have that doubt?
We have this belief that
our ability and capability is not enough to even benefit ourselves. But the very
idea of immeasurable action is that the Bodhisattva does not have any doubt about
his own actions. A Bodhisattva has complete faith in his or her own actions as
a single cause to benefit beings. When we are beyond that doubt, then even very
small things like releasing animals or giving lunch to one person, these kinds
of actions become immeasurable activities. When we go beyond doubt, every act
becomes an immeasurable act. When we get rid of that doubt toward ourselves and
believe in our intrinsic love and compassion, then every act becomes an immeasurable
act. In the absence of doubt there is immeasurable joy and happiness in each of
us. Joy and happiness is the natural expression of freedom that the Bodhisattva
experiences beyond the mundane. It is beyond words. There is no comparison with
ordinary joy and happiness. Ordinary joy and happiness are impermanent and dependent
upon causes and conditions. It can be injured and disturbed. It never lasts forever.
And it's always based on klesha, on selfish mind. There is always insecurity about
our own happiness or freedom. There isn't really happiness in ordinary happiness.
The Buddha said it's like sitting on the top of a needle. There's no happiness
sitting on that.
True happiness comes from immeasurable love. Nothing can destroy
it or take it away. We may die but we will not lose our joy, happiness, and freedom.
We may be sick or poor or the object of hatred for other people. But our joy and
happiness has nothing to do with those conditions. Because of that we become the
source of joy and love and generosity to other beings. This is everlasting freedom
and happiness. It is pure, authentic, and absolute. Bodhicitta mind is the Buddha,
because it is the guide. It is Dharma, because it is the path. And it is the sangha,
because it accompanies us. It is the deity. It is the wish-fulfilling jewel. If
he walked in front of us right now, even Buddha could not grant us happiness.
But Bodhicitta mind can, so it is ultimate Buddha nature. The Dzogchen teachings
say that we are Samantabhadra (the Primordial Buddha) because Bodhicitta mind
resides inside of us.
In some way, nothing matters to us anymore in this lifetime.
Once we become a Bodhisattva, we become fearless, ultimately confident. Whether
we become successful or a loser, whether we are sick or dying, it doesn't matter,
because the mind steeped in the ultimate reality of love and compassion is unshakable.
Our happiness springs from inner richness, which is love and compassion. We begin
to experience the state of great equanimity, where there is no longer the sense
of separation between self and others, friend and enemy. For a Bodhisattva, this
insect is as important as a human being. Everyone is as important as himself.
There is no longer hatred or partiality. There is all-embracing love and compassion.
But remember that we already have this intrinsic love and compassion. Remember
to evoke it. That is all that matters to the end.
Life can be very challenging.
Especially when we practice Dharma, because we no longer take refuge in illusions.
In that way, we have a chance to exercise and strengthen our Dharma practice,
to use Dharma as a way to overcome our personal obstacles. Dharma is not intellectual
knowledge. It is direct experience of personal purification. When we know how
to apply Dharma directly, we begin to experience liberation. We experience the
profound effect of Dharma. Please continue with Dharma practice every day. There
are many areas which have to be improved. But do not judge Dharma practice. Maybe
we can put forth more effort, more determination, more time to cultivate Dharma
practice. We understand that the Dharma practice is the only source of happiness
we have. It's the most precious guide we have.