The last group of teachings Lama Yeshe gave were at the end of the 1983 Kopan meditation course on December 9th and 10th. They covered refuge, the five lay precepts and bodhicitta. Here, we extract from the teaching on bodhicitta.
Think it is absolutely essential for us to have loving
kindness towards others. There is no doubt about this. Loving kindness is the
essence of bodhicitta, the attitude of the bodhisattva. It is the most comfortable
path, the most comfortable meditation. There can be no philosophical, scientific
or psychological disagreement with this. With bodhicitta, there's no East-West
conflict. This path is the most comfortable, most perfect, one hundred percent
uncomplicated one, free of any danger of leading people to extremes. Without
bodhicitta, nothing works. And most of all, your meditation doesn't work, and
realizations don't come.
Why is bodhicitta necessary for success in meditation? Because of selfish grasping.
If you have a good meditation but don't have bodhicitta, you will grasp at any
little experience of bliss: 'Me, me; I want more, I want more.' Then the good
experience disappears completely. Grasping is the greatest distraction to experiencing
single-pointed intensive awareness in meditation. And with it, we are always
dedicated to our own happiness: 'Me, me I'm miserable, I want to be happy. Therefore
I'll meditate.' It doesn't work that way. For some reason good meditation and
its resultspeacefulness, satisfaction and blissjust don't come.
Also, without bodhicitta it is very difficult to collect merits. You create
them and immediately destroy them; by afternoon, the morning's merits have gone.
It's like cleaning a room and an hour later making it dirty again. You make
your mind clean, then right away you mess it up - not a very profitable business.
If you want to succeed in the business of collecting merits, you must have bodhicitta.
With bodhicitta you become so preciouslike gold, like diamonds; you become
the most perfect object in the world, beyond compare with any material things.
From the Western, materialistic point of view, we'd think it was great if a
rich person said,'I want to make charity. I'm going to offer $100 to everybody
in the entire world.' Even if that person gave with great sincerity, his or
her merit would be nothing compared with just the thought,'I wish to actualize
bodhicitta for the sake of sentient beings, and I'll practice the six paramitas
as much as I can. That's why I always say, actualization of bodhicitta is the
most perfect path you can take.
"The best Dharma practice,
the most perfect, most substantial,
is without doubt
the practice of bodhicitta."
Remember the story of the Kadampa geshe who saw a man circumambulating a stupa?
He said, 'What are you doing?' and the man answered, 'Circumambulating.' So
the geshe said, 'Wouldn't it be better if you practiced dharma?' Next time the
geshe saw the man he was prostrating, and when he again asked what he was doing,
the man replied, 'One hundred thousand prostrations.' 'Wouldn't it be better
if you practiced dharma?' asked the geshe. Anyway, the story goes on, but the
point is that just doing religious-looking actions like circumambulation and
prostration isn't necessarily practicing dharma. What we have to do is transform
our attachment and self-cherishing, and if we haven't changed our mind in this
way, none of the other practices work; doing them is just a joke. Even if you
try to practice tantric meditations, unless you've changed within, you won't
succeed. dharma means a complete change of attitude - that's what really brings
you inner happiness, that is the true Dharma, not the words you say. Bodhicitta
is not the culture of ego, not the culture of attachment, not the culture of
samsara. It is an unbelievable transformation, the most comfortable path, the
most substantial pathdefinite, not wishy-washy. Sometimes your meditation
is not solid; you just space out. Bodhicitta meditation means you really want
to change your mind and actions and transform your whole life.
We are all involved in human relationships with each other. Why do we sometimes
say,'I love you,' and sometimes, 'I hate you?' Where does this up-and-down mind
come from? From the self-cherishing thoughta complete lack of bodhicitta.
What we are saying is, 'I hate you because I'm not getting any satisfaction
from you. You hurt me; you don't give me pleasure. That's the whole thing: Imy
ego, my attachmentam not getting satisfaction from you, therefore I hate
you. What a joke! All the difficulties in inter-personal relationships come
from not having bodhicitta, from not having changed our minds.
So, you see, just meditating is not enough. If that Kadampa geshe saw you sitting
in meditation he'd say, 'What are you doing? Wouldn't it be better if you practiced
dharma?' Circumambulating isn't dharma, prostrating isn't dharma, meditating
isn't dharma. My goodness, what is dharma, then? This is what happened to the
man in the story. He couldn't think of anything else to do. Well, the best dharma
practice, the most perfect, most substantial, is without doubt the practice
of bodhicitta.
You can prove scientifically that bodhicitta is the best practice to do. Our
self-cherishing thought is the root of all human problems. It makes our lives
difficult and miserable. The solution to self-cherishing, its antidote, is the
mind that is its complete oppositebodhicitta. The self-cherishing mind
is worried about only me, methe self-existent I. Bodhicitta substitutes
others for self.
It creates space in your mind. Then even if your dearest friend forgets to give
you a Christmas present, you don't mind. "Ah, well. This year she didn't
give me my chocolate. It doesn't matter." Anyway, your human relationships
are not for chocolate, not for sensory pleasures. Something much deeper can
come from our being together, working together.
"With bodhicitta you become so precious
like gold, like diamonds.
You become the most perfect object
in the world, beyond compare
with any material things."
If you want to be really, really happy, it isn't enough just to space out in
meditation. Many people who have spent years alone in meditation have finished
up the worse for it. Coming back into society, they have freaked out. They haven't
been able to take contact with other people again, because the peaceful environment
they created was an artificial condition, still a relative phenomenon without
solidity. With bodhicitta, no matter where you go, you will never freak out.
The more you are involved with people the more pleasure you get. People become
the resource of your pleasure. You are living for people. Even though some still
try to take advantage of you, you understand: 'Well, in the past I took advantage
of them many times too.' So it doesn't bother you.
Thus bodhicitta is the most perfect way to practice dharma, especially in our
twentieth-century Western society. It is very, very worthwhile. With the foundation
of bodhicitta you will definitely grow.
If you take a proper look deep into your heart you will see that one of the
main causes of your dissatisfaction is the fact that you are not helping others
as best you can. When you realize this you'll be able to say to yourself, 'I
must develop myself so that I can help others satisfactorily. By improving myself
I can definitely help.' Thus you have more strength and energy to meditate,
to keep pure morality and do other good things. You have energy, 'Because I
want to help others.' That is why Lama Tsong Khapa said that bodhicitta is the
foundation of all enlightened realizations.
Also, bodhicitta energy is alchemical. It transforms all your ordinary actions
of body, speech and mindyour entire life into positivity and benefit for
others, like iron transmuted into gold. I think this is definitely true. You
can see, it's not difficult. For example look at other people's faces. Some
people, no matter what problems and suffering they are enduring, when they go
out they always try to appear happy and show a positive aspect to others. Have
you noticed this or not? But other people always go about miserable, and angry.
What do you think about that? I honestly think that it indicates a fundamental
difference in the way these two kinds of people think. Human beings are actually
very simple. Some are a disaster within and it shows on their faces and makes
those whom they meet feel sick. Others, even though they are suffering intensely,
always put on a brave face because they are considerate of the way others feel.
I believe this is very important. What's the use of putting out a miserable
vibration? Just because you feel miserable, why make others unhappy too? It
doesn't help. You should try to control your emotions, speak evenly and so forth.
Sometimes when people are suffering they close off from others, but you can
still feel their miserable vibration. This doesn't helpothers with even
momentary happiness forget about leading them to enlightenment. To help the
people around you, you have to maintain a happy, peaceful vibration. This is
very practical, very worthwhile. Sometimes we talk too much about enlightenment
and things like that. We have a long way to go to such realizations. Forget
about enlightenment, I don't care about buddhahoodjust be practical. If
you can't help others, at least don't give them any harm, stay neutral.
Anyway, what I'm supposed to be telling you here is that bodhicitta is like
atomic energy to transform your mind. This is absolutely, scientifically true,
and not something that you have to believe with blind religious faith. Everybody
nowadays is afraid of nuclear war, but if we all had bodhicitta, wouldn't we
all be completely secure? Of course we would. With bodhicitta you control all
desire to defeat or kill others. And, as Lama Je Tzong Khapa said, when you
have bodhicitta all the good things in life are magnetically attracted to you
and pour down upon you like rain. At present all we attract is misfortune because
all we have is the self-cherishing thought. But with bodhicitta we'll attract
good friends, good food, good everything.
As His Holiness the Dalai Lama said recently, if you're going to be selfish,
do it on a grand scale; wide selfishness is better than narrow! What did His
Holiness mean'! He was saying that, in a way, bodhicitta is like a huge selfish
attitude because when you dedicate yourself to others with loving kindness you
get a lot more pleasure than you would otherwise. With our present, usual selfish
attitude we experience very little pleasure, and what we have is easily lost.
With 'great selfishness' you help others and you help yourself; with small it's
always 'me, me, me and it is easy to lose everything.
Remember, Atisha had over 150 teachers? He respected them all, but when he heard
the name of oneLama Dharmarakshitahe would come out in goose-bumps.
He explained this by saying, 'I received many teachings from many, many great
gurus, but for me, Lama Dharmarakshita, who gave me the bodhicitta ordination
and teachings on the method and wisdom of bodhicitta and the six paramitas,
was the most helpful for my life'. This is very true. Sometimes techniques of
deity meditation are extremely difficult, but bodhicitta meditation is so simple,
so incredibly profound and real. That's why Atisha would shake when he heard
the name of his main teacher of bodhicitta.
The main point, then, is that when you contact Buddhadharma you should conquer
the mad elephant of your self-cherishing mind. If the dharma you hear helps
you diminish your self-cherishing even a little, it has been worthwhile. But
if the teachings you have taken have had no effect on your selfishness, then
from the Mahayana point of view, even if you can talk intellectually on the
entire lam-rim, they have not been must use at all.
Do you recall the story of Shantideva and how people used to put him down? They
used to call him Du-she-sum-pa, which means one who knows how to do only three
things: eating, sleeping and excreting. This was a very bad thing to call someone,
especially a monk. But that's all that people could see him doing. However,
he had bodhicitta, so whatever he did, even ordinary things, was of greatest
benefit to others. Lying down, peacefully, he would meditate with great concern
for the welfare of all living beings, and many times, out of compassion, he
would cry for them. Westerners need that kind of practice. Fundamentally we
are lazy. Well, maybe not lazy, but when we finish work we are tired and don't
have much energy left. So, when you come home from work, lie down comfortably
and meditate on bodhicitta. This is most worthwhile. Much better than rushing
in speedily, throwing down a coffee and dropping onto your meditation cushion
to try to meditate. It doesn't work that way; your nervous system needs time
and space. You can't be rushing through traffic one minute and sitting quietly
meditating the next. Everything takes time and space. It is much better to r
have a quiet, blissful cup of coffee, And don't pressure yourself either; that
too is very bad. Don't punish yourself when you are too tired to meditate: 'I
should be meditating; I am very bad.' You destroy yourself like this. Be wise.
Treat yourself, your mind, sympathetically, with loving kindness. If you are
gentle with yourself you will become gentle with others so don't push. Pushing
doesn't work for me, that's why I tell others not to force themselves. We are
dealing with the mind, not rocks and concrete; it is something organic.
"In a way, bodhicitta is like a huge selfish
attitude
because when you dedicate yourself to others
with loving kindness you get a lot more pleasure
than you would otherwise."
The Western environment offers lots of suffering conditions that act as causes
for our actualizing bodhicitta, so life there can be very worthwhile. For example,
it is much better to subdue an adversary with bodhicitta than with a knife or
gun. When attacked, you can practice loving kindness. We could also do this
in the monasteries of Tibet, where there were often horrible monks. Don't think
that Tibet was full of only holy peoplewe had unbelievably wild monks
there that nobody in authority could subdue! If you would try to control them
wrathfully they would get only more aggressive. But arya bodhisattva monks,
people who had completely given themselves up for others, would treat them with
loving kindness, and the wild monks would calm down completely. They would feel,
'This man loves me; he has great compassion. He has given up everything for
others and has nothing to lose.' In that way aggressive people would be subdued,
without authority but with bodhicitta. There are many stories about this kind
of thing, but I'm not going to tell them now. Perhaps you think they're funny,
but it's trueyou can conquer your enemies, both internal and external,
with loving kindness and bodhicitta. It is most worthwhile and there's no contradiction
bodhicitta is the totally comfortable path to liberation and enlightenment.
In his text Lama Choepa, the Panchen Lama says, 'Self-cherishing is the cause
of all misery and dissatisfaction, and holding all mother sentient beings dearer
than oneself is the foundation of all realizations and knowledge. Therefore
bless me to change self-cherishing into concern for all others.' This is not
some deep philosophical theory but a very simple statement. You know from your
own life's experiences without needing a Tibetan text's explanations that your
self-cherishing thought is the cause of all your confusion and frustration.
This evolution of suffering is found not only in Tibetan culture but in yours
as well.
And the Panchen Lama goes on to say that we should look at what the Buddha did.
He gave up his self-attachment and attained all the sublime realizations. But
look at us we are obsessed with 'me, me, me' and have realized nothing but unending
misery. This is very clear isn't it? Therefore you should know clean clear how
this works. Get rid of the false concept of self-cherishing and you'll be free
of all misery and dissatisfaction. Concern yourself for the welfare of all others
and wish for them to attain the highest realizations such as bodhicitta and
you'll find all happiness and satisfaction.
"Bodhicitta is the most perfect way to practise
dharma,
especially in our twentieth century Western society.
It is very, very worthwhile.
With the foundation of bodhicitta
you will definitely grow."
You people are young, intelligent and not satisfied with what you have in your
own countries. That's why you are seeking further afield. And now you have found
that most worthwhile of all things, bodhicitta.
But it is not an easy thing. Easy things bore you quickly. It is quite difficult,
but there's no way you'll get bored practicing it. People need to be most intelligent
to actualize bodhicitta, some, though, have no room for it. 'Forget about yourself
and have a little concern for others?' they'll ask. 'That's not my culture.'
It is very difficult to change holding yourself dear into holding others dear
insteadthe most difficult task you can undertake. But it is the most worthwhile
and brings the greatest satisfaction.
After practicing some meditations, such as impermanence and death, for a month
you'll say, 'I'm tired of that meditation.' But you'll never get tired of meditating
on bodhicitta. It is so deep; a universal meditation. You'll never get tired
of bodhicitta.
You have heard of many deities that you can meditate on, many deities to be
initiated into - Chenrezig and the rest. What are they all for? I'll tell youfor
gaining bodhicitta. As a matter of fact, all tantric meditations are for the
development of strong bodhicitta. That is the purpose of your consciousness
manifesting as a being with 1000 arms so that vou can lend a hand to a thousand
suffering beings. If you don't like to manifest yourself this way you can relate
the meditation to your own culture and see yourself as Jesus. Avalokiteshvara
and Jesus are the same: completely selfless and completely devoted to serving
others.
Remember what happened the first time that Avalokiteshvara took the bodhisattva
ordination? He vowed to guide all universal living beings to enlightenment from
behind, like a shepherd.'I do not want to realize enlightenment until first
I have led all mother sentient beings there first. That will be my satisfaction.'
He worked for years and years, leading thousands of beings to enlightenment,
but when he checked to see what was happening he found there were still countless
more. So again he worked for years and years and again when he checked there
were still so many left, and this cycle was repeated until finally he was fed
up and thought to himself, 'For aeons and aeons I have struggled to lead all
sentient beings to enlightenment but there are still so many left. I think it
is impossible to fulfil my vow.' And because of the intensity of his emotion
his head split into eleven pieces. Then Amitabha Buddha came and offered to
help, and blessed him to be successful.
So I'm sure some of you people can be like Chenrezig. The main thing is to have
strong motivation. Even if it comes strongly only once, it is extremely powerful.
It is very rare to have this kind of thought. A mere flash is so worthwhile;
to have it for a minute for a day...