Perfect Freedom:
The Great Value of Being Human
Lama Zopa Rinpoche
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Chapter Eight: Living With Bodhicitta
The statues in Bodhgaya advised Lama
Atisha that the quick way to achieve enlightenment is to
practice bodhicitta. To
train the mind in the ultimate good heart, bodhicitta, is
also the best method for quick and extensive purification
of negative karmas and extensive accumulation of merit in
order to achieve enlightenment. Even if you know by heart
all the secret, profound teachings of the first and second
stages of tantra, and can explain them extensively, and even
if you practice them, without bodhicitta this does not become
the cause of enlightenment. You may be able to generate heat
and bring the drop down, but these are general attainments,
experienced even by Hindus, who do not have refuge in their
minds. Without bodhicitta, nothing in tantric practice becomes
the cause of enlightenment.
There are many stories of meditators who spent their life
meditating on tantra, generating themselves as a deity such
as Yamantaka, and were then born as pretas similar in aspect
to their visualized deity. This happened due to their unskillful
tantric practice. They focused only on tantra and forgot
the lam rim practices of renunciation, bodhicitta and emptiness.
Without lam rim practice or realizations, they practiced
deity meditation and were born as very powerful, terrifying
pretas. Lama Atisha told the story of one meditator who practiced
Hevajra tantra. He meditated on the generation stage, which
is supposed to make it quicker to achieve enlightenment,
but instead fell into the Hinayana path.
The way to make extremely meaningful this precious human
body qualified with eight freedoms and ten richnesses, with
which you can achieve the three great purposes, is by training
your mind in bodhicitta. To make this precious human body
most meaningful and most beneficial for yourself and all
other sentient beings, train your mind in bodhicitta. You
should not think that by doing some practice other than bodhicitta,
you can achieve enlightenment quicker and complete the works
for yourself and others.
After meditating on the three great purposes you can accomplish
with this perfect human rebirth, meditate like this: "Every
day from my birth until now, all the actions of my body,
speech and mind have been done out of the selfish attitude,
following worldly concern. None of these actions will become
the cause of enlightenment, so I have wasted them. I have
wasted so much of this highly meaningful perfect human rebirth."
Again, try to feel that this is a greater loss than losing
diamonds equaling the number of atoms of this earth. Try
to feel an incredible loss. "So far, all the actions
of my body, speech and mind have not become even the cause
of liberation, because they have been done out of attachment
and the dissatisfied mind. I have wasted so much of my highly
meaningful perfect human rebirth. So far, none of my everyday
actions have even become holy Dharma, the cause of happiness
in future lives. My actions haven't even become the cause
of happiness. I have wasted so much of my meaningful perfect
human rebirth."
Even though we are trying to practice Dharma, it is very
difficult for our actions to become holy Dharma. Most of
our normal actions of sitting, walking, eating and sleeping
do not become Dharma. Meditate like this on how much of our
life has been wasted, how our actions have not even become
Dharma. "If I had been practicing correctly and continuously
from the time I met the virtuous friend and received lam
rim teachings up to now, after so many years I would have
generated bodhicitta, or at least renunciation of samsara.
By now I would have reached the first, if not the second,
stage of tantra."
Thinking of how we have wasted our time an and not made
any progress makes us more aware of how we live our life.
We
should be sure to make our life meaningful through practicing
Dharma and thus have accomplishment in this life. As Kunnu
Lama Rinpoche explains in Admiring Bodhicitta:
When you eat, eat with bodhicitta. When you stand, stand
with bodhicitta. When you sit, sit with bodhicitta. When
you sleep, sleep with bodhicitta. When you look, look with
bodhicitta. When you speak, speak with bodhicitta.
During the entire twenty-four hours, every action you do
should be done out of bodhicitta, not for yourself but for
others. Do every action - meditating or whatever - out of
bodhicitta. As much as possible, try to make every action
become a remedy to self-cherishing thought. If your daily
actions oppose self- cherishing thought, they become the
cause of a good rebirth and whatever happiness you wish in
your next life, the cause of liberation from samsara, and
the cause of enlightenment, which is the greatest advantage.
All your actions then become Dharma. If your actions are
against self-cherishing thought, they become the method to
achieve all success. As long as your actions do not oppose
self-cherishing thought, even if they are not done out of
worldly concern and become holy Dharma, they are of limited
advantage and bring limited happiness.
We should focus our whole life on this point. We should
plan to live our life with this attitude, then all temporal
and
ultimate success will follow. All your wishes and those
of others succeed because of this attitude. Whether you
wish
to have quick realization of the path or peace of mind
and fewer problems in your everyday life, doing all your
actions
out of bodhicitta (which means opposing self-cherishing
thought) is the most important and skillful practice.
This one solution
cuts off so many problems, both for you and for others. Making your life meaningful
To make your life most meaningful and beneficial, live your
life with bodhicitta, the ultimate good heart. Try to do
every action during the entire day with the ultimate good
heart of bodhicitta. Even if you cannot practice bodhicitta,
the altruistic mind wishing to achieve enlightenment for
the benefit of all sentient beings, as much as possible try
to live your life with a generous, good heart. The ultimate
good heart is the thought seeking enlightenment in order
to work for other sentient beings. Even if you are not doing
the profound practice of the ultimate good heart, it is important
if you have a job not simply to think: "I'm doing this
work to survive. I need the money for food - I have to eat." If
you live your life with this attitude, you are thinking about
nothing other than yourself; it shows no concern for others.
Among all the sentient beings, you are thinking about nothing
except this one sentient being - and that is not even another
person, but yourself!
With the attitude that you are working just to survive, your
mind is not happy or relaxed. If you look at it, it's not
a comfortable attitude, but painful and sad. Being concerned
only about yourself, doing everything for your own happiness,
is the principal cause of depression. All the problems of
depression and aggression that lead you to depend on a psychiatrist
or psychologist, making your life expensive, come from the
selfish attitude. The selfish attitude also makes you busier,
because you then have to earn the money to pay for the psychiatrist
and so forth.
At this time you have a human body, not the body of an animal
such as a pig or a horse. You have taken a superior rebirth
with an incredible capacity to think and to perform superior
actions, which animals and lower beings cannot do. You have
much potential to think in a better way, and have the opportunity
to benefit all sentient beings. It is not simply a matter
of attitude; a precious human body actually can benefit all
sentient beings. To have taken such a precious body that,
unlike the bodies of other beings, can offer incredible benefit
to others, and have an attitude that is not even superior
to an animal's is very sad. With such a poor attitude, your
life is not happy.
Even if you cannot generate compassion for all beings, when
you get out of bed, dress, and get ready to go to work, at
least think in this way: "My survival today comes from
my employers. Because they have given me a job and money,
I have all these comforts and enjoyments. My ability to survive
as a human being and benefit others comes from the kindness
of my employers. Even though I have an education, if they
hadn't given me this job, I would have been in trouble. They
are extremely kind."
Then think to repay their kindness: "I want happiness
and don't want suffering, as do my employers. We are the
same. As they want my help, I want their help. As I am dependent
on their help, they are dependent on my help. Their happiness
depends on me. If I need their help, they should help me.
So why shouldn't I help them? They work for me, so why don't
I work for them?"
Think: "I am going to do this job because I need to
achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings.
Because I need the necessary conditions to practice Dharma,
I am going to do this job." The work itself is then
done completely for other sentient beings. Even if you cannot
think of the highest goal of enlightenment, of working for
all sentient beings, at least think: "I am going to
do this work to obtain happiness for these particular sentient
beings, who want happiness and don't want suffering, exactly
like me. I am going to work to bring them happiness."
Then feel happy and rejoice: "How wonderful it is that
these sentient beings find my life and body useful in stopping
their problems and obtaining their happiness." Generate
happiness, rather than being so concerned about yourself,
always thinking: "I don't have this, I don't have that
- I should have it!" By thinking like this, you create
your own depression and aggression. This unskillful way of
thinking unnecessarily fills your mind with aggression and
depression instead of happiness. Passing your life with constant
problems and unhappiness for one day, two days, three days,
one week, one month, one year, comes from your way of thinking.
The whole thing depends on your attitude.
Instead of beginning the day with worry and self-concern,
with the thought that if you don't go to work you won't get
any money, get up happily. Think: "I am going to work
to obtain happiness for these sentient beings and to prevent
their problems. They want happiness and don't want suffering,
just as I do. How wonderful it is that I can benefit at least
some sentient beings. Even though I can't benefit all sentient
beings, who equal the infinite sky, my life and limbs at
least benefit some sentient beings. How wonderful it is that
I am able to make them happy!"
Constantly practice awareness of this when you are getting
up at home, driving to the office and while you are working
there. Of course if you work for a large group of people,
there is no question that you should feel happier because
you are working for more sentient beings. But even if you
are working for just one sentient being, you can still rejoice: "This
human body is not useless. It is benefiting one sentient
being, helping him to achieve happiness. This is great!"
By remembering the kindness of others, you are very happy
and relaxed, and there is no depression. Because you are
happy when you are at home, and even when you come to the
office, you help create a very happy environment. Because
you have a very peaceful mind, with loving kindness and concern
for others, when you come to the office, other people who
are depressed become happy when they see you. It is no help
at all when they are depressed if you are also depressed.
It simply makes everyone more depressed. Your being happy
and relaxed makes others feel good and changes their minds.
At least, this is how it should be with the people with whom
you work.
Even though the work is the same, one unskillful way of thinking
brings unbelievable problems into your life, making your
life into a hell; another skillful way of thinking brings
many different levels of happiness. You can create this happiness
with the wisdom understanding Dharma. If you have an attitude
of loving kindness towards a group of people - or at least
one person - because you are more concerned about them and
not so concerned about yourself, jealousy, anger and so forth
and all other problems are lessened.
In regard to doing every activity with bodhicitta, there
is another story about Gen Jampa Wangdu, who is a heart son,
a very close disciple, of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and
who is also my teacher. One day Gen Jampa Wangdu came here
to Tushita to see Lama Yeshe and me. Gen Rinpoche told us
that one day in his room he checked up to see how many years
it had been since he had asked other people for anything
for himself - it had been ten years. When he went to other
people, it never concerned himself, always someone else.
Isn't that amazing? I think it is incredible!
When he met Gen Jampa Wangdu, most of the time Lama Yeshe
would make jokes and put him down, and any of their friends
who were ascetic lamas. Lama would always joke: "You
people live in a cave with nothing - how can that be ascetic?
How can that alone be an ascetic life? The whole world comes
to me. I enjoy everything; I have everything." Lama
was always joking about and putting down the ascetic meditators.
In the general view, in terms of the
Dharma, and particularly the tantric texts that Lama read,
the advice he gave in everyday
life, his actions, and his hidden practices that nobody outside
knew about, Lama Yeshe's practice and realizations are not
lower than those of ascetic meditators who have lived many
years in mountain caves with no possessions - and perhaps
they are even higher. In terms of external appearance, it
might seem that Lama Yeshe is not living an ascetic life
and not practicing Dharma. Those who don't know Lama well,
who don't live with him and know his daily life, might think
such things. Older students who have received many tantric
teachings from Lama can understand his high level of realizations
of second stage tantra. They can figure this out from the
effectiveness of his teachings.
When Gen Jampa Wangdu said this about working only for others,
Lama simply said: "Oh, that is good." He didn't
rate it very highly, just said: "That is good." But
from the heart, Lama Yeshe likes Gen Jampa Wangdu very, very
much and Gen Jampa Wangdu also has incredible heart-felt
respect and admiration for Lama Yeshe, even more so lately.
Gen Jampa Wangdu is himself a great practitioner of tantra,
with the perfect base of experiences to be labelled "yogi
of Vajrayana." He has reached a very high level of the
tantric path.
What Gen Jampa Wangdu said is very inspiring and you should
use it as an example for your life. If it is possible for
ascetic meditators such as Gen Jampa Wangdu to generate
bodhicitta, to change their attitude from self-cherishing
to cherishing
others, and to generate first and second stage tantric
realizations, why not you? You are a human being, the
same as they are.
You have the same gurus and have received the same teachings.
There is only a difference if, from your side, you don't
practice - that's all. Even if you do not know about or meditate on lam rim, even
if you do not think of the actual way of training your mind
in bodhicitta with the preliminary renunciation of samsara,
do everything in your daily life with the thought of loving
kindness. Even if you are living in a city like everybody
else, take care of your family or work in your job with the
thought of loving kindness. Like you, your family are also
sentient beings wanting happiness and not wanting suffering.
The actual purpose of your life is to eliminate the sufferings
of other sentient beings and bring them happiness. Your being
alive as a human being is not for yourself but for others.
What you should do, in fact, is purify obscurations and
accumulate merit for three countless great aeons by
following the path,
as Guru Shakyamuni Buddha did. In his lives as a bodhisattva,
Buddha offered his holy body, eyes and limbs as charity to
other sentient beings, numberless times and in many different
places.
One recent lam rim lineage lama, Je Drubkangpa, who had
a cave above Sera Monastery in Tibet, had several gurus,
but
from one particular guru he received many teachings on bodhicitta;
I am not sure whether this was the first guru from whom he
received teachings on bodhicitta. It seems that this guru
was not a monk, but had long hair rolled up on top of his
head and lived in the forest. He wasn't sleek or well-dressed
and didn't live in a good house.
One day, from a short distance, Je Drubkangpa saw his
lama in the forest, crying. He was reading a scripture
and crying
very much. And even though he was alone there in the forest,
he was giving the "thumbs up" sign a lot, which
means "very good." In Tibet, this sign is also
used for begging, where it means: "Please give!" or "Please
help!" However, it also means "very good."
Not immediately but after some time, Je Drubkangpa asked
his guru: "Before, when I saw you crying very much in
the forest and giving the "thumbs up" sign, what
were you doing? What made you cry?" The lama explained: "The
reason I cried was that I was reading Guru Shakyamuni Buddha's
life-stories as a bodhisattva."
There are about thirty-four stories of Buddha as a bodhisattva,
The Jataka Tales, which tell of how he offered charity to,
guided and benefited other sentient beings in many different
ways. For example, once there were five hundred traders on
a ship that was about to sink. Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, who
was then still a bodhisattva who had taken the form of a
huge turtle in that life; the turtle lifted up the ship and
saved the traders from drowning.
At another time, when thousands
and thousands of fish were about to die because they
were stranded on a beach,
Buddha
recited the holy name of The Buddha Having a Jewel Ushnisha:
Chom-dän-dä de-zhin-sheg-pa rin-chen tsug-tor
chän. If you recite this Buddha's
name in the ear of an animal or human, particularly at the
time of death, they cannot be born in the realm of the suffering
transmigratory beings; it causes them to receive the body
of a happy transmigratory being in their next life. When
The Buddha Having a Jewel Ushnisha was a bodhisattva, he
prayed that simply the recitation of his name would be able
to benefit sentient beings and guide them from suffering.
By reciting this Buddha's name to the thousands of fish,
Guru Shakyamuni Buddha as a bodhisattva saved them from the
lower realms.
In another story Buddha offered charity to others of
all his limbs, so that only the trunk of his holy body
was left.
The village people then thought: "Now he doesn't have
any limbs, what is the use of him?" - and threw the
remaining part of his holy body on the refuse heap. However,
even on the refuse heap Buddha did great work for other sentient
beings by offering what was left of his body to ants, worms
and other creatures. There are many incredible stories of
how Shakyamuni Buddha guided sentient beings, even when he
was a bodhisattva.
Reading The Jataka Tales, Je Drubkangpa's guru thought: "This
Guru Shakyamuni is a mother's son; he was born from a mother
- I am also a mother's son. But there is a big difference.
He was able to sacrifice himself for the mother sentient
beings, and I haven't done anything. We are the same in being
mothers' sons, but Guru Shakyamuni has been a very worthy
son. He has saved so many sentient beings from suffering,
offered much charity and borne much hardships for others.
I am also a mother's son, but I haven't done anything worthwhile."
So, reading the stories, Je Drubkangpa's guru was crying
very much and making the "thumbs up" sign. He was
giving Buddha the "thumbs up" sign to say: "Very
good. Very worthy son." He cried very much on seeing
the unbelievable dedication Guru Shakyamuni Buddha had for
sentient beings and his practice of bodhicitta.
On one of the last times they parted, when Je Drubkangpa
was going away to another place, his lama accompanied him
a short distance. Je Drubkangpa had already spent years studying
in a monastery and had become a geshe, but he had been told
by one of his gurus to do retreat and experiment on the path.
As they parted, Je Drubkangpa's guru again emphasized: "Don't
forget bodhicitta practice. Unless you practice bodhicitta,
other paths won't come to anything. Even if they are called "secret" or "the
quick path to enlightenment", they won't fulfill your
wishes completely." He was saying that without bodhicitta,
one cannot achieve the sublime, peerless happiness of enlightenment.
Je Drubkangpa, with some confidence in his own practice
and experience of bodhicitta, showed a little of his
experience
to his guru by saying: "Bodhicitta is a causative phenomenon.
I am also a causative phenomenon." For example, with
dough mixed from flour and water, you can make many different
kinds of food: noodles, chapatis, cakes and so forth. Because
it a causative phenomenon, a dependent arising, you can change
the dough into many different types of food. In a similar
way, Je Drubkangpa is saying, it is possible to change the
mind. By creating the cause, one is able to generate the
result of bodhicitta within one's heart, just as Guru Shakyamuni
Buddha did as a bodhisattva. For three countless great aeons
he accumulated extensive merit, then achieved enlightenment
and revealed the path in order to liberate sentient beings
from all obscurations and lead them to enlightenment.
And this is exactly what we should do. The purpose of
our life is to benefit every sentient being. Think: "Even
if I cannot sacrifice myself for every sentient being as
Guru Shakyamuni Buddha did, how wonderful it is that at least
I am able to use my body, speech and mind to benefit my family
and make them happy. How fortunate I am! I should actually
offer my body as charity to other sentient beings, but at
least I am serving this small number of sentient beings and
bringing them happiness." You should rejoice from your
heart. Whether working in a family, at a Dharma center, in
a hospital, or in the community, you should offer service
to others with a sincere attitude and good heart, remembering
their kindness. In this way your mind will be very happy
all the time. Because all your activities will be done with
loving kindness and the thought of cherishing others, depression
won't arise.
Even if you working for just three people in your family,
or even one person, since your work is done with a sincere
attitude, with the thought of loving kindness cherishing
others, even if you do not know how to transform your actions
into virtue, your everyday activities will naturally become
virtue. Even if a person has never heard of lam rim, his
everyday activities done with this sincere attitude become
pure Dharma. Because they are unstained by self-cherishing
thought, these activities are the most difficult to do,
but the purest holy Dharma.
Dharma means protecting oneself from suffering, from
samsara. If someone is in danger of falling down
a precipice, you
can save him with ropes. Dharma is the rope that stops
a person falling down into the sufferings of the lower
realms.
Your own virtuous actions, Dharma, protect you from true
suffering and true cause of suffering.
Even if someone doesn't know about Buddhadharma or
lam rim teachings, if their everyday life is lived
with the
thought
of cherishing others, it becomes the purest holy Dharma.
It is the best protection and the best cause of happiness
in this life, and in the lives after this. Otherwise,
if all our activities are done with non-virtuous motives,
out of selfishness and worldly concern, only for the
happiness
of ourself and of this life, every activity in the
day becomes
the cause of suffering, since non-virtue is the cause
of suffering and confusion in this life, and in future
lives.
Instead of creating the cause of happiness, it sometimes
looks as if all our education is used to create negative
karma. After he gains a degree, a person may go to
an office and work there until he retires. But no
matter how many
years - even forty! - the person does the job, if
his attitude is one of worldly concern, all those
years
of
work become
negative karma. Because of the selfish attitude,
worldly concern clinging to the happiness of the
self and this
life
arises. If there were no selfish attitude, there
would be no space in the mind for worldly concern,
as well
as the
many other disturbing thoughts such as anger.
If the selfish attitude is replaced by loving kindness
and bodhicitta, the thought of cherishing others,
these other
confused minds don't arise. In this way there is
much peace and happiness in the person's life.
And much
happiness and harmony for his family and the other
people around
him. As
a result of his good heart in this life, the person
will experience much peace of mind and happiness
not only
in
this life, but in his next life.
If you do your everyday actions with bodhicitta,
practicing taking others' sufferings and dedicating
your body,
possessions and merit to them, you accumulate
much merit all the
time. Each time you meditate on bodhicitta, or
even generate the motivation of bodhicitta, you
collect
merit equaling
the
infinite sky. In that minute, by generating the
motivation of bodhicitta, even if you don't have
the actual
realization of bodhicitta, you accumulate infinite
merit. Realizing emptiness quickly
Practicing bodhicitta is also the quick way to realize emptiness.
If you wish to realize emptiness, understand Madhyamika philosophy,
really experience Nagarjuna's teachings, and realize the
meaning of The Heart Sutra, heart of the whole Buddhadharma,
the best method is to practice bodhicitta. To realize emptiness,
the absolute nature of the self, one has to be extremely
fortunate; it is not enough just to be smart or be able to
debate well. You can study the teachings, take refuge in
the explanations of Lama Tsongkapa, Nagarjuna or Guru Shakyamuni
Buddha and parrot what the texts say, but repeating the words
of a text is not enough.
To realize emptiness a person needs to create the cause,
which means much purification and accumulation of much merit.
By doing powerful purification with prostrations or Vajrasattva
practice, and meditating, you develop the devotion to see
the guru as Buddha and correctly devote yourself to him in
thought and action as Buddha taught. When your guru devotion
is deep and strong, you then use powerful methods to purify
your obscurations and mental defilements. As these become
thinner, any lam rim meditation you do - the graduated paths
of the small, intermediate and great scopes; renunciation
of samsara, emptiness, bodhicitta - makes much more sense.
Your mind becomes extremely soft and pliable, rather than
solid as a rock. When you meditate you feel confident that
if really tried for some weeks or some months, you could
definitely generate the realization of the meditation. You
feel this strongly from your heart with every meditation
you do. Ideas that were mere words in the beginning, you
now feel strongly from your heart.
At this time, even seeing a few words such as "on the
vase there is a vase existing from its own side" has
an incredible effect, like waking from sleep. At the moment
our problem is that we haven't recognized the object to be
refuted. If we purify our obscurations, accumulate much merit
and develop our guru devotion, even though we haven't studied
all the extensive scriptures by Nagarjuna and Chandrakirti,
and we don't understand everything, just two or three pages
of a teaching on emptiness, or even the words "on the
vase there is a vase existing from its own side" are
like waking from sleep. We are able to recognize the object
to be refuted. Suddenly, after seeing just two or three words,
you look at external objects and recognize clearly how things
appear to be truly existent. And when you look at the I,
you immediately recognize the object to be refuted, that
on the I, there is an I that appears to exist from its own
side.
In this way it doesn't take long to realize emptiness. Once
you have recognized the I existing from its own side, like
pressing a button in a lift, everything lights up and works.
Once you have recognized the object to be refuted, the I
that doesn't exist, even if you don't use the four analyses
and all the many logical explanations from Madhyamika philosophy,
just concentrate one- pointedly on the I. You see an I existing
from its own side, but at the same time you are aware that
this is what is actually empty. The object to be refuted,
the I existing from its own side, has no choice - it cannot
abide. One-pointedly focus right on the I existing from its
own side and recognize that this is what the teachings call "the
object to be refuted."
Simply remember that the I is a dependent arising. While
focusing on this truly existent I, which seems to exist
from its own side, be aware that it is empty. Actually,
there
is no choice - you realize that it is completely empty.
Even though ignorance clings to the object to be refuted,
if you
can see that not even an atom of it exists from its own
side, you experience the I to be completely empty. From
your own
experience, you actually come to know how the I exists.
Through realizing unmistakenly that the truly existent
I in which
you believe doesn't exist, without need to push, you experience
how the I actually exists.
You are then able to realize the subtle dependent arising
of the I - that the I exists under the control of name,
being merely labelled on the aggregates by thought and
name. This
becomes your own experience, not just words. Before,
you were simply imitating the teachings, but when you
realize
the subtle dependent arising of the I, it is no longer
mere words. When you speak of these things, you are talking
from
your own experience. Guru devotion: root of the path
It may seem a little strange to hear that you need guru
devotion in order to have these realizations. To the ear
of someone with a certain type of mind, who has not accumulated
much merit or planted many seeds of the teachings, this may
sound a little funny. When the guru tells you that you need
guru devotion to achieve realizations of the path to enlightenment,
it may look as if he is taking advantage of you, as if he
is praising himself and asking the disciples to see him as
Buddha and make offerings to him. It is very easy to think
it strange when you hear this. It looks like worldly politics.
The first time you hear this, especially before you begin
to practice Dharma, it seems very strange and almost like
some kind of trick. The proof of how realizations, development
of the mind and experience of the path depend on the very
root of strong, stable guru devotion comes when a person
actually practices. A person's own experience answers his
questions as to the importance of guru devotion. In his everyday
life he can see the difference between the times when he
sees the guru as Buddha and devotes himself correctly to
him in thought and action, and the times when he does not.
When there is no devotion, the mind is like a hot desert
where nothing grows.
When the mind is like this, the very root of the whole path
does not exist, or is like very thin clouds about to disappear
in the sky. Then, no matter how many times you repeat the
words, no matter how many different lam rim or tantric teachings
you read or meditations you do, you feel nothing from your
heart. Even meditating on impermanence and death becomes
just words. Even meditating on renunciation or bodhicitta,
you feel nothing from the heart. And with emptiness, your
mind is like a rock.
Your own experience gives you the answer. You can understand
guru devotion from the life-stories of the lam rim lineage
lamas, which describe how they practiced guru devotion and
had incredible realizations, but the actual proof comes from
your own experience when meditating on the path.
Relating to lam rim, Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo explains that
if you meditate and achieve realizations of perfect human
rebirth, its usefulness and the difficulty of receiving it
again, impermanence and death, and karma, all the other realizations
come very easily after that, like rainfall or pouring rice
from a basket. The rest come very easily once you have these
fundamental realizations.
If you find even the meditations from perfect human rebirth
up to karma very difficult, with no progress happening in
your mind, there is something wrong with the first step,
guru devotion. You have to examine what is missing or what
mistake you have made in your guru practice. When changing
your mind through these basic meditations is very difficult,
something is wrong in your practice of the root of the path.
You have to examine for mistakes. After recognizing the mistake
and correcting your practice, you then need very strong practice
of purification.
Many of you may have heard the story
of Je Drubkangpa's guru practice. In the beginning, even
though he meditated on lam
rim for many years, no progress happened. So he asked one
of his gurus: "Why have I been meditating on lam rim
for such a long time with nothing happening?" His guru
asked him: "When you visualize the merit field, have
you missed any gurus with whom you have had Dharma contact?
Have you forgotten anyone in the merit field?" Je Drubkangpa
said: "Yes. I have many bad thoughts towards the guru
who taught me the alphabet, because he is a disrobed monk.
He is the only one I don't visualize." Je Drubkangpa
discovered that this guru was missing from his visualization
of the merit field. He was then advised by his guru: "You
should now visualize that one as the principal guru of the
whole merit field. He is Lama Lobsang Tubwang Dorje Chang
in the center and the entire merit field is an embodiment
of him. Until you develop devotion, keep him as the principal
figure of the merit field." After doing this meditation,
Je Drubkangpa had no difficulty in generating realizations;
they came very easily, one after the other.
Guru devotion as the root of the whole
path is like the electricity supply to a city. When no electricity
comes from the main
power-station, there are no lights in any of the rooms in
the whole city. All the elevators, televisions and other
enjoyments that depend on electricity are completely stopped.
It is
easy to understand that all the various enjoyments in the
city have come from building that power-station. All these
depend on the power- station. A meditator's experience of
guru devotion is similar; and this is your own experience,
but you don't recognize it. Even though you have met Buddhadharma,
you don't remember having met the guru in the past. Even
though you are experiencing the result, whether of correct
or incorrect devotion to the guru, you are not aware of the
past karmas. However, experienced lam rim meditators are
able to recognize and remember these. Just as you can see
how all the enjoyments depend on the power-station, meditators
with experience of the path to enlightenment see how important
it is to practice correct devotion to the guru in thought
and action.
Tara advised one Tibetan lama: "Do the bodhicitta
practice of tong-len, taking and giving, to develop merit
and you will be able to actualize the Middle Way, devoid
of the two extremes. Without delay you can then become enlightened." With
bodhicitta as the fundamental practice, you are also quickly
able to realize emptiness. In order to complete the lam rim
realizations, the skillful way to meditate on lam rim is
to realize guru devotion. This realization is the most difficult
one for most people to generate, so you should train your
mind in it once every day. Daily practice
Every day, first thing in the morning, you should do one
meditation on guru devotion, followed by one meditation on
different sections of the graduated path of the small scope:
perfect human rebirth, impermanence and death and so forth.
Also, each day do one short meditation on emptiness in order
to plant the seed of this realization; and one meditation
related to tantric practice to train your mind in calm abiding,
visualizing the seed syllable, as His Holiness the Dalai
Lama mentioned, the fire of the tum-mo meditation, or yourself
as a deity in the generation stage of tantra.
Meditating on the tum-mo fire
at the navel has many advantages. Even if you don't achieve
calm
abiding through one-pointedly
concentrating on the tummo fire, you achieve a certain
experience of the tantric path and are able to make the
chakras and
drops serviceable. Tum-mo meditation helps you
to accomplish the very essence of the Highest Yoga Tantra
path; it gives
you some experience of the second stage, the completion
stage. If you are able to make the chakras and drops
function, you
can quickly reach the clear light of example. Tum-mo meditation
helps very much for the generation stage to be stable and
perfect, as well as helping you either to achieve calm
abiding or have a certain experience of completion stage,
which is
extremely important.
If you train your mind every day in several lam rim meditations,
if you live for ten years, you will have realizations
of guru devotion, impermanence and death, or emptiness.
Before
your death you will have achieved all these realizations
- or if not all, at least one or two. In this way your
life will not be completely empty. Instead of spending
your whole
life training your mind in just one meditation - and
not being sure of realizing even that before your death
- every
day do direct meditation on the entire path to enlightenment.
Plant the seed of the path to enlightenment in your mind
in this way and make your everyday life highly meaningful. |
