1. TAKE THE RESPONSIBILITY

Think, “I’m going to do this nyung nä session to free every hell being from all their suffering and its causes and to free every hungry ghost from all their suffering and its causes. I must also free every animal from all their suffering and its causes; I must free every human being from all their suffering and its causes; and I must free every deva from all their suffering and its causes. I must free all sentient beings from all their suffering and its causes.”

Take the responsibility to free all sentient beings from suffering and to lead them to enlightenment solely upon yourself. Make this strong determination now, and remember that your only opportunity to do this is at this time, in this life. 

2. Bodhicitta is of the utmost need

When we meet a sentient being who has problems, who is suffering in samsara, that itself is the reason to generate bodhicitta. When we see a country, a society or a person suffering, it is the reason that we need to generate bodhicitta and to become enlightened.

Think, “It is not just one sentient being who is suffering—numberless sentient beings are suffering. If I had generated bodhicitta and already become enlightened, not only this one sentient being but the numberless other sentient beings, who are dependent on me, would have already been enlightened. But because I have followed only the self-­cherishing thought, this one sentient being has suffered again and again, so many times, from beginningless rebirths, and there are numberless sentient beings who are suffering. Since this is due to my self-­cherishing thought, the self-­cherishing thought is unbelievably harmful to all the numberless sentient beings. I must eliminate it right now.

“If I had already generated bodhicitta, I would already have become enlightened, and those sentient beings would already have been enlightened. Bodhicitta is of the utmost need. Therefore, I must generate bodhicitta right now, without a second’s delay.

“In order to generate bodhicitta and achieve enlightenment, I have to rely upon a special deity of compassion, Chenrezig, embodiment of the compassion of all the buddhas. Relying upon such a special deity will enable me to develop compassion. I must generate the path and develop bodhicitta, but to do so I need to accumulate a lot of merit. To achieve enlightenment, Buddha accumulated merit for three countless great eons and did so much purification in life after life. Therefore, I’m going to do this Chenrezig practice, this nyung nä, to achieve enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings.”

3. Every sentient being is your dearest one    

You have received numberless past happinesses during beginningless rebirths from the numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, human beings, asuras, suras and intermediate state beings. Since you have received all this past happiness from them, think how unbelievably kind and precious they are. On top of that, you receive all your present happiness from them, so they are even more precious, unbelievably precious. And you will receive all your future happiness from them, so now they are much more precious, much more kind.

You also receive the ultimate happiness of liberation from samsara from all these sentient beings, so now they are even kinder and more precious. And you also receive full enlightenment from them, so now they are the dearest, kindest, most precious ones. Every sentient being is your dearest one. Every hell being is your dearest, kindest, most precious one. Every hungry ghost is your dearest, kindest, most precious one. Every animal is your dearest, kindest, most precious one. (Every insect or animal that you hate—rat, cockroach, spider, snake—is your dearest, kindest, most precious one.) Every human being is your dearest, kindest, most precious one. Every asura is your dearest, kindest, most precious one. Every sura is your dearest, kindest, most precious one. Every intermediate state being is your dearest, kindest, most precious one.

Think, “I must free every sentient being from all their suffering and its causes and bring them to enlightenment by myself alone (alone is very important). Therefore, I must achieve full enlightenment. Therefore, I’m going to do this nyung nä session.”

4. Repaying the kindness

Doing this Chenrezig practice is how you enjoy life. This is the best way to enjoy life, to make life happy. Here we’re talking about being happy because what we’re doing is most meaningful, most beneficial, for sentient beings. Normally, in the world, being happy is related to your self-­cherishing thought, your selfish mind. You’re happy when you get what you want, what your attachment wants. Being happy is mostly related to delusions. But here happiness is not connected to the delusions, to samsaric pleasure, but to your doing the best you can for sentient beings.

Think, “Doing this nyung nä is my contribution to world peace. I’m doing this to bring peace and happiness to all sentient beings, but it’s also my best contribution to world peace.”

And this is the best way to repay the kindness of others, including your parents. Think of the kindness of your parents in giving birth to you, in taking care of you, in educating you and so forth. Even if somebody else took care of you after you were born, that person was also kind. First of all your parents were kind, because they gave birth to you, then all the others who took care of you were also kind.

Doing this nyung nä is the best way to repay their kindness, because by this you are able to bring all happiness to sentient beings. You are able to complete the path and achieve full enlightenment yourself, and then do perfect work for sentient beings.

5. Numberless, kind and precious

Think, “There are numberless kind and precious hell beings, and this nyung nä is for every single hell being, for their temporary and ultimate happiness.
“There are numberless kind and precious hungry ghosts, and this nyung nä is for every single one of them, for their temporary and ultimate happiness.
“There are numberless kind and precious animals, and this nyung nä is for every single one of them, for their temporary and ultimate happiness.
“There are numberless kind and precious human beings, and this nyung nä is for every single one of them, for their temporary and ultimate happiness.
“There are numberless kind and precious asura beings, and this nyung nä is for every single one of them, for their temporary and ultimate happiness.
“There are numberless kind and precious sura beings, and this nyung nä is for every single one of them, for their temporary and ultimate happiness.
“There are numberless kind and precious intermediate state beings, and this nyung nä is for every single one of them, for their temporary and ultimate happiness.”

6. Developing great compassion is of utmost importance

It is through generating the root of enlightenment, great compassion, that the realization of bodhicitta, the door to the Mahayana path to enlightenment, comes. From bodhicitta then come all the Mahayana realizations—the six paramitas, the five paths, the ten bhumis and the realizations of the Highest Yoga Tantra path. Then the state of omniscient mind comes, with the infinite qualities of a buddha’s holy body, holy speech and holy mind. We are then able to do perfect work for all sentient beings, bringing them from happiness to happiness to enlightenment.

Think, “Therefore, the most important thing in my life is to develop compassion, great compassion. This is of utmost importance. Just understanding the teachings on how to develop compassion is not sufficient. Even if I have all the information on how to develop compassion, I must still have the realization. For that, I must receive the blessing of the special deity of compassion by doing the practice that persuades the holy mind of the Buddha of Compassion. It is for this reason that I am going to do the meditation-­recitation of Compassion Buddha.”⁵⁹

Notes

⁵⁹ All these brief motivations are also suitable to use to renew the bodhicitta motivation before doing the mantra recitation. The final two motivations come from Teachings from the Mani Retreat, pp. 45–47.