Lecture 21
OBSCURATIONS ARE TEMPORARY
Think, “At any rate, I must achieve full enlightenment for the sake of all the sentient beings who equal the infinite space. Therefore, I’m going to listen to the holy Dharma."
So please listen to the teachings well, by clarifying your motivation, the purest motivation of bodhicitta, and the righteous conduct of listening to the teaching.
The other night I mentioned what is the conventional nature of the mind and the ultimate nature of the mind, and what the “principal mind” or “consciousness” means and what “secondary mental factors” or sem jung means. There are many types of secondary mental factors, these minds that arise as a surrounding of the principal consciousness. Altogether there are fifty-one. I mentioned the definitions of them and then mentioned about the ultimate nature of the mind.
I mentioned how the ultimate nature of the mind is empty of existing from its own side. The nature of the mind is what is called the “clear light.” The nature of the mind—that is what clear light means, the ultimate nature of the mind, that which is empty, empty of existing from its own side. That is the clear light. Where the clear light is referred to, that is the ultimate nature of the mind.
I also mentioned that no matter how heavy all the delusions, all the disturbing-thought obscurations and the subtle obscurations are, and no matter how much heavy karma we have created, no matter how much we have lived an evil life, all these are temporary. They are not permanent. They are not permanent. They are temporary. Like the weather, like the clouds in the sky, because we see the sky is covered by clouds, it doesn’t mean the sky is forever covered by clouds, by fog, it doesn’t mean that. No matter how dark it is, it’s temporary.
Similarly, the obscurations are temporary. No matter how much heavy negative karma we have created, it’s temporary. No matter how much we have lived an evil life, that is also temporary. No matter how much depression we are experiencing, how much very heavy disease we are going through—very terrifying sicknesses even for our whole life—no matter how many heavy relationship problems we have, even if everybody—our family, the people inside our home and those outside, everybody—dislikes us, none of these things are permanent. They are all temporary. Even if we are going through a lot of life difficulties, failure in business and so forth, going through much hardships in life, where nothing succeeds, also that is not permanent. It’s not something that happens all the time. It’s just for the time being. So all these are temporary.
A white cloth that is dirty is not oneness with the dirt; it’s temporarily obscured by the dirt. Therefore, there’s a possibility to clean the cloth with water, soap and so forth, so that the white cloth can be separated from the dirt, so that it can become clean. Similarly, the mirror is not oneness with the dirt. The dirt that covers the mirror is temporary. Because the nature of the mirror is not oneness with the dirt, therefore, as with the cloth, the dirt can be separated away from the mirror, leaving it clean, without having dirt on it.
This is similar to the clear light nature of the mind, that which is buddha nature, buddha essence, buddha potential or the race of the buddha. The clear light nature of the mind is pure because it is not mixed with the stains of mind. It is not oneness with the obscurations. It is not oneness with ignorance; it is not oneness with anger; it is not oneness with attachment. The nature of the mind that is the clear light is pure, “pure” in that sense.
Because of that, our mind, our mental continuum, can be separated from the mistakes, from the obscurations, from these disturbing thoughts, from the negative karmas. It can be separated from the karma that is the cause of samsara, that forms samsara by leaving imprints on the consciousness, negative karmas that are the cause of the lower realms. The mental continuum can be separated away from all these obscurations and negative karmas.
By actualizing the remedy, the path, within our own mind, with that method, the mind can be separated away from the mistakes. All the stains of the mind, the mistakes of the mind, can be ceased. That’s why every sentient being can become enlightened. Even mosquitoes, even those tiny insects, the ants, even those tiniest insects that jump onto humid wood, old wood, even big animals no matter how big, whales or elephants, everyone can be enlightened. In time, everyone can become enlightened. It’s definite we will become enlightened in time by meditating on the remedy path.
That is because the clear light, the nature of the mind—that which is buddha nature, the race of the buddha—is pure, is not mixed, is not one with the mistakes of the mind, with the obscurations. Because of that, all the obscurations can be ceased, the mistakes of the mind can be ceased, all the sufferings and the cause of the sufferings can be ceased.
How? It’s similar to this example. The hallucinated mind, this wrong concept, apprehends a coiled rope that is on the road at dusk as a snake. It appears as a snake. To the hallucinated mind, there’s the appearance of a snake. How can that hallucinated mind, that wrong concept, be eliminated? It can be eliminated by wisdom, by the unmistaken mind, the valid mind, that realizes it’s a rope.
On top of the rope, from above the rope, to the hallucinated mind, the wrong concept, there’s the appearance of a snake, and it apprehends that as true. With a clear light and so forth, our valid mind realizes that the rope is just a piece of rope. When that happens, that valid mind, that wisdom, eliminates the hallucinated mind apprehending that it is a snake, a real snake.
One time I made a mistake. I think it was in New York or California or somewhere. There was the place where people can make phone calls. There are shops, then outside there’s the place where people can make phone calls, standing up. From a distance I saw a lady, not moving, just standing continuously, not moving. I thought that must be a mannequin, like those in the dress shops. In the windows of the dress shops there were many mannequins, statues of ladies to display the dresses. So I thought that this lady must have been a mannequin because she hadn’t moved for a very long time, she was just standing perfectly still. But as I went closer I saw it was an actual person. Because of the distance I could not see clearly but by coming nearby, with that method, somehow I was able to see that it was an actual living person making a phone call. That understanding then eliminated the hallucinated mind that believed it was a mannequin.
What are the subtle obscurations? They are the subtle imprints of the dualistic view, part of the truly existent appearance. Because of the dualistic view or the truly existent appearance, there is a projection, a decoration of the subtle imprint. The subtle imprint is left by the disturbing thought, such as the concept of true existence. So, the subtle obscurations come from this concept of true existence. This is the base of all the gross, disturbing-thought obscurations. The whole root is the concept of true existence. This is the base, or the root, where all the rest of the delusions and karma arise from.
How can this be eliminated? By another mind. This concept of true existence, the root of all the obscurations, the root of all suffering, the basis of all the obscurations, can be eliminated by wisdom. This concept of true existence can be eliminated because, for example, the nature of the I, the self, is empty of existing from its own side. I explained the other night how the mind is empty of existing from its own side. What is the mind? It is nothing except only what is merely imputed, so the mind is empty of existing from its own side, of being a real one, in the sense of existing from its own side. The mind is empty of that. That is the ultimate nature of the mind. That is what is called the clear light nature of the mind.
By meditating, this is what we realize, that the mind is empty of existing from its own side. This is the nature of the mind, and this is what we realize, by analyzing, by refuting the real object on the mind, the inherent existence on the mind, the mind that appears as a real one existing from its own side. We realize that it’s completely, totally a hallucination and that it’s completely empty. By analyzing what the mind is, we realize this.
That means that the object apprehended by the concept of true existence, the object of the ignorance, the object that the mind apprehends as inherently existent, that object completely doesn’t exist. We realize this through analysis, by doing the Buddha’s scientific analysis according to the reality. It’s not referring to Western science but science in the sense of analyzing, by analyzing the reality. We analyze and discover reality through our own analysis. Through analysis, through this science of meditation, we realize that the object of this ignorance apprehending that the I is real, existing from its own side, that is completely a hallucination; that is completely empty. That is completely empty right there, from where the mind is. The inherent existence placed on the merely labeled mind by ignorance is completely empty, right there. Through analysis, through the science of meditation, we see that the object, that concept, that ignorance is completely false, a hallucination, and that it’s completely empty.
The main reason we can eliminate this ignorance apprehending that the mind is inherently existent is because the nature of the mind is empty of existing from its own side. That’s the reality. That’s really reality. Through analysis, the science of meditation, we realize the reality, the nature of the mind that is reality, and then that wisdom is able to eliminate the wrong concept, this ignorance that looks at the mind in the wrong way and believes in that complete hallucination. Similarly, through the science of meditation we can realize the nature of the I, that the I is completely empty of existing from its own side. That is the reality. That is the reality.
Through the science of meditation, analyzing whether there’s such an I, a truly existent I, whether that is true or not, whether it exists, we actualize the wisdom that sees that it’s completely empty. Then this wisdom is able to eliminate the wrong concept, the ignorance that apprehends the completely false I, that apprehends the I that exists from its own side, independent or inherently existent, which is completely contradictory to reality. This ignorance, this concept of true existence, gets eliminated. It can be abandoned; it can be eliminated.
Lama Lhundrup has been describing the five paths of the Lesser Vehicle and the five Mahayana paths. By developing the wisdom realizing emptiness and renunciation and so forth, the method, we are able to completely eliminate the disturbing-thought obscurations. Through this we are able to completely cease the whole entire suffering. Then developing wisdom with the method, with bodhicitta, we are able to cease not only the disturbing-thought obscurations, but even the subtle obscurations. By developing the wisdom realizing emptiness, with the skillful means of the Mahayana method, bodhicitta, then we are not only able to cease the disturbing-thought obscurations, but even the subtle obscurations, the subtle imprints.
That’s why the mistakes of the mind, those disturbing-thought obscurations and the subtle obscurations, are temporary. They are temporary not permanent, so all the rest of the problems are temporary, as I mentioned before. No matter how much heavy karma we have, no matter how many great mistakes we’ve made, all those are not permanent. They are temporary. They exist by depending on causes and conditions and so they can be purified, they can be ceased by depending on other causes and conditions. All these sufferings and negative karmas, all the obscurations, came into existence by depending on causes and conditions.
EVEN THE CONCEPT OF I CAN BE ELIMINATED
Through these details you can understand how because the ignorance, this concept of true existence, of the truly existent I, came into existence depending on causes and conditions, it can be also eliminated by depending on other causes and conditions.
For example, since you meditated on the lower realms and the general sufferings of samsara, and the particular sufferings of each realm, you can see that all this comes from this ignorance, the very root, the concept of the truly existent I. All this comes from the ignorance that apprehends, that believes, that the I is inherently existent.
I’ll just mention a few details on this, how this happens. I think a little bit might have been mentioned before at one time. First of all, there’s the imprint left on the consciousness by past ignorance, the concept of the truly existent I.
First of all, because of the reason of the aggregates and the functions they do—sitting, walking, eating, sleeping, whatever—the mind labels “I.” There’s the thought of I. The mind labels “I.” The mind that labels “I” is not the ignorance. That’s not the root of samsara. The mind that labels the “I” because of the reason of the aggregates and whatever functions they are doing, that thought of “I” is still not the ignorance, that’s not the ignorance that is the root of samsara. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Then after our mind puts the label, after the mind merely imputes the I, then there’s the appearance of the I.
I mentioned earlier on about dollars. I talked quite a bit, by using the example of dollars, how after we put the label on those lines, how many circles it has, we label $10 or $100, this and that. Then after that there’s the appearance. Only after that, only after that, only after the label then there’s the appearance of $10 or $100.
Here too, only after the mind has imputed the I, then there’s the appearance of I. Then there’s the appearance of the I. Still, having the appearance of the I, that is not a mistake. The I that is merely imputed appears as something extra, as something additional, as something more than what is merely imputed. It appears as something extra, something additional to what is merely imputed, as existing from its own side.
Having this appearance is still not the basic problem. The very root of the problem is the continuation of the thought that labels the I. The thought had labeled the I before this continues and starts to believe this is a hundred percent true. This appearance of the inherently existent I, the way it appears, we see as a hundred percent true. Then at that time, only at that time, whenever we start to believe that it’s a hundred percent true, the continuation of that thought becomes ignorance. Believing that the I that appears as truly existent is truly existent, that is ignorance.
The I that is merely imputed by the mind appears as truly existent, as inherently existent or existing from its own side because of the imprint left by past ignorance, which apprehends that the I is truly existent. If we’re wearing blue-tinted glasses we see the white snow mountain as blue; if we’re wearing yellow-tinted glasses then we see the white snow mountain as yellow. According to what color of glasses we’re wearing, we see it as that color. It’s like that.
The imprint is like the roll of film that is processed. What we see on the screen depends on what has been exposed on the film. What we see on the TV screen or projected on the wall comes from what was put on that negative roll, what is projected from that negative roll, from that film.
Like those examples, the different colored glasses, the film, depending on that then we see things in that way. Because of the imprint left by past ignorance we see the I as truly existent. Because of the imprint the I appears as truly existent.
The color of the snow mountain is white but, depending on what kind of glasses we wear, we see it as yellow or blue. The I is empty of existing from its own side, but because of the imprint left on the consciousness by past ignorance, it projects onto it true appearance and the I appears that way. The blue or yellow snow mountain that we see is due to the color of the glasses. It’s not true. Like those many examples that show what’s not true, it’s the same thing here. That’s how the I appears as truly existent, by what causes and conditions the merely labeled I appears as truly existent.
Now the continuation of that thought which labeled “I,” whenever it starts to believe [Rinpoche snaps his fingers] that this appearance is a hundred percent true—a hundred percent true means that the I is like this in reality—we believe it exists in reality as it appears.
We who haven’t realized emptiness yet don’t see things as illusory. In our everyday life, this is how we believe everything, including the self, to be. As soon as the continuation of that thought labels the I and as soon as we believe [Rinpoche snaps his fingers] that this is true, that the I that appears to exist from its own side is actually like this, that this is the reality, as soon as we believe it [Rinpoche snaps his fingers] like this, at that time this thought becomes ignorance. Then at that time, this is how we create ignorance, how we make up ignorance. Ignorance doesn’t coming from the outside; ignorance is not dropped from the sky with the rain. It doesn’t come from somebody, sent with the breath. As they breathe, ignorance comes and sinks in our brain or somewhere. Anyway, I’m joking. Or as they stare you, something comes through the eyes, their ignorance comes through our eyes or through our nose or something. Anyway, I’m just joking. This I’m just joking, anyway.
At that time we’re creating the root of samsara. At that time this thought becomes the root of samsara. That’s how we create the root of samsara. You can see it’s like the machine, it’s all dependent arising. All these things exist depending on each other. So you can see now how this ignorance is a dependent arising, how this exists by depending on causes and conditions. It’s very clear how this exists by depending on causes and conditions.
Therefore, by depending on other causes and conditions this ignorance can be eliminated. First of all, it exists by depending on causes and conditions, so by depending on other causes and conditions, this ignorance can be eliminated. The nature of the I is empty of existing from its own side. That is the reality. By realizing that, that wisdom, then that eliminates the hallucinated mind, the root of samsara, the root of the whole suffering. This ignorance, this concept of a truly existent I or person gets eliminated by depending on other causes and conditions. Just as weather conditions cause fog or clouds—this happens due to causes and conditions—but when wind arises, by depending on other causes and conditions, the fog or clouds can be cleared away and space becomes empty, devoid of fog or clouds. It becomes clear space.
This understanding, this logic, that shows how we can eliminate the root of the samsara, ignorance, the concept of a truly existent I, that itself becomes the proof to show that we can achieve liberation. That itself becomes the fundamental logic, the proof, that shows how we can achieve liberation. Whether we can achieve liberation or not is dependent on the very basic fact that we can eliminate the root of the sufferings.
If we understand this well, and if we have some experience of the realization of emptiness, that the I is empty of existing from its own side, realizing the object to be negated, the object of ignorance, the truly existent I, is completely empty, at that time when we have this experience, the wisdom realizing emptiness of the I, that definite understanding, at that time we will have definite faith that we can achieve liberation.
IN EMPTINESS OUR MIND AND THE BUDDHA’S ARE THE SAME
It’s mentioned in the Uttara Tantra that although the fully enlightened beings’ actions always radiate out, there’s no difference in the suchness.
As all the physical beings have buddha essence, the race of the buddhas, a fully enlightened being’s action always radiates, like sending light beams. It always radiates, entering the sentient beings’ mental continuum. Whatever virtuous actions we do—for example, when our mind gets transformed when the thought of patience arises, when compassion arises, when devotion arises, whenever a virtuous thought arises—that’s the buddhas’ actions radiating, entering our mind. So all virtuous thoughts are the buddha’s actions that are within the mind of sentient beings. There are the buddhas’ actions that are only possessed within the buddhas’ holy minds. In suchness there’s no differentiation.
So here we should do a little bit of meditation. What it’s talking about here is this. As far as the mind itself realizing emptiness there’s a difference dependent on whether it’s our mind—a sentient being’s mind—or a buddha’s holy mind. As far as the mind is concerned they’re different. A buddha’s mind is pure and at the moment our mind, this sentient being’s mind, is impure. There’s differences in the support that the emptiness depends on, the mind. The support, supporting, support? Not the sport, playing football, not that one. What’s it called? What’s the differences? [Students explain.] This one is support? The other one, sport. Okay. Now I realized, sport and support.
Anyway, so the support, the mind on which emptiness depends, our mind, a sentient being’s mind, and a buddha’s mind—there’s a difference. A buddha’s mind is pure and our mind, our sentient being’s mind, at the moment is impure. But, in emptiness, in suchness, there’s no difference. There’s no difference. The emptiness of our mind, our sentient being’s mind, and the emptiness of a buddha’s mind, there’s no difference. So in emptiness, there’s no difference.
That is the nature of this mind, What is the mind? What is the mind? It’s nothing other than what is merely imputed by the mind. Therefore, the mind is empty from its own side. And the same thing, a buddha’s holy mind, what it is? It’s nothing except only what is merely imputed by the mind. Therefore that mind is also empty from its own side. So, there’s no difference between the nature of our own mind and the nature of a buddha’s mind. There’s no difference. So now we’ll meditate.
So concentrate just a little bit, as I explained.
[Meditate]
First of all think, just keep on thinking “mind, mind, mind.” “My mind, my mind.” At the same time, you should spy on how the mind appears to you while you’re repeating, “my mind, my mind.”
Just keep on repeating, “mind, mind, mind, mind,” at the same time being aware of how the mind appears to you.
If possible recognize the appearance of the mind, a real mind, the appearance of a real mind from its own side.
Now question yourself. Now analyze. “Is the appearing mind, is the mind appearing merely imputed by the mind or does it exist not merely labeled by the mind, existing from its own side, a real one? Which way does the mind appear to me?”
Now think, “How the mind exists is because of the reason of being a phenomenon that the I labels on the aggregates. It’s on these aggregates of body and mind that we label ‘I.’ There’s [the physical body] and the other phenomenon that is not physical, that is formless, colorless, shapeless, that has the nature of being clear, of perceiving objects. Because of this reason my own thought merely imputes the “I,” merely imputes the mind. Then, I believe in that.
“That’s it. That’s all it is. Just by that, I am satisfied that the mind exists. There’s a mind, I’m just satisfied by that.”
Therefore the mind is completely empty. While the mind is existing, the mind is completely empty from its own side. Now concentrate on this point one-pointedly.
[Meditate]
In reality, there’s no mind there. There’s no mind there.
The mind is simply what is merely imputed by our own thought and believed.
We’ve made up the label “mind” with our own thought. We’ve made up the label “mind” with our own concept.
There is a mind but there’s no mind there. It’s completely empty. It’s exactly the same as labeling “mind” on space. In the front of me, in space, I label “mind.” In front of me, in front of my face, in space, I label “mind.” How does it appear? If I label “mind” in space in front of me how is it? What is the understanding of that?
There’s no mind there. We can label mind in the front of us in space. By pointing at the space in front of us we can label it “mind” but there’s no mind there. This mind is completely empty, existing from its own side. Like that example.
So think, now you label the buddha’s holy mind. Now you label the buddha’s holy mind, that is also the same, exactly the same—you have made up the label with your concept and believed in that. There is no buddha’s holy mind there. There is the buddha’s holy mind but there’s no buddha’s holy mind there. So the buddha’s holy mind is completely empty of existing from its own side. Like the example that I mentioned about labeling “mind” on the space.
So you can see now there’s no differentiation between the emptiness of my mind and of a buddha’s holy mind. No differentiation at all. One taste, besides that, one taste in emptiness, like having put water into the water. What does that look like? No differentiation. Now here, there is no differentiation in emptiness. One taste. There’s no this emptiness; there’s no that emptiness. While you’re concentrating on emptiness, there’s no such thing as this emptiness and that emptiness—the emptiness of a buddha’s mind and the emptiness of my mind. All one taste in emptiness. In emptiness, all one taste.
[Meditate]
Also, in emptiness there’s no sentient being, there’s no buddha. In this emptiness, there is no sentient being, there is no buddha. There’s no hell, there’s no enlightenment, there’s no liberation, there’s no samsara. There’s no happiness, there’s no suffering. There’s no virtue, there’s no nonvirtue. There’s no I, there’s no you.
For example, here in space, you label “sentient being,” “buddha.” How it is here? You label “sentient being,” “buddha,” “hell,” “enlightenment,” “liberation,” “samsara,” “happiness,” “suffering,” “I,” “aggregates,” “six senses,” “form,” “sound,” “smell,” “taste,” “tangible object.” When you label all these things here in space, when you impute everything here in space, if you label them, how is it, how it is? You’re making many different ideas, but what is there? You’re making up many different ideas, these concepts, you think your label is there. What is there? How is it appearing? If you put all these labels here in space—all these billions and billions, billions and billions, numberless, how many numberless names that you put here in the space—this is all the same. That one made up the idea, this label, made up the concept, but here it’s all empty. There’s nothing there; it’s all empty. There’s nothing there. The space where you put the label, there’s nothing there.
Even though you make up billions, numberless labels, the reality is the same. The reality is the same. I’m using this as an example. The reality is the same; there’s no differentiation. There’s no such thing there. There’s no such thing there, appearing from its own side. There’s no such thing there; there’s no such thing appearing from its own side. In that nature, it’s all the same. There’s no differentiation. This is one example, to get an idea.
What is the conclusion? Anyway, there’s no conclusion!
THE ULTIMATE NATURE OF THE MIND IS BUDDHA NATURE
Meditation on emptiness is very good. Also, if you can meditate, it’s a great solution for depression because depression comes from believing something is real, concrete from its own side, then wanting to have it and not getting it. Then, loneliness and depression arise. But if you are able to meditate, you see that real thing is just something you have made up, but in essence it’s empty, emptiness. And there’s no differentiation. In emptiness there’s no such thing as this and that. There’s no subject that is missing; there’s no object to be missed.
To be able to meditate like this on the verse from Maitreya Buddha’s teaching, Uttara Tantra, you can see there are two types of race: the race of the buddha and the naturally abiding race. That means that any causative phenomena that all the sentient beings possess, like virtue and so forth, can become the transcendental wisdom, the dharmakaya or the rupakaya, the holy form body. These causative phenomena that sentient beings have, virtue and so forth, become the omniscient mind or the wisdom or the holy body, that is the race of buddha, which can be developed.
Then the other one is the naturally abiding race. The definition of the naturally abiding race is the ultimate nature or the reality of the stained mind. It is the ultimate nature or the reality of the stained or obscured mind, which is oneness with its own base or support, the mind. This means the ultimate nature of the obscured mind that becomes the cause of the holy nature body. This means the ultimate nature of the omniscient mind, the buddha’s holy mind. That’s the definition of the second kind of buddha’s race, the naturally abiding race. The ultimate nature of the mind is that. The naturally abiding race is the buddha’s essence or the buddha potential.
There are four Mahayana sects in Tibet. Some other sects assert that because the ultimate nature of the mind itself is buddha nature, then the mind is already enlightened, our own mind is already enlightened. Our own mind is already a buddha mind and it has been a buddha mind from beginningless rebirths. There’s a buddha within us from beginningless rebirths, all the time. Because of the reason that the ultimate nature of the mind is buddha nature they say the mind itself is buddha. We don’t recognize ourselves as a buddha due to the obscured mind, the hallucination. By following that, we don’t recognize ourselves as a buddha.
So now, because there’s a buddha’s race, all physical beings have the essence of buddha all the time. The conclusion is that. Now I’m making a truly existent conclusion! Maybe it depends on who hears the conclusion. Because of that, if we practice the Dharma, everyone can become enlightened. Everyone can cease all the mistakes of the mind and can complete all the qualities, all the realizations, of the mind and achieve this peerless happiness. And through this experience we can cause everyone also to achieve full enlightenment, which is the cessation of all the mistakes and the completion of all the qualities of realization.
So therefore, now the last, the very last conclusion! Therefore, it’s worth practicing Dharma. That’s the very last conclusion. Maybe there’s no more conclusion after that.
So, I’ll stop here.
Lecture 22
THE EIGHT MAHAYANA PRECEPTS MOTIVATION: THE BENEFITS OF BODHICITTA
[Rinpoche chants in Tibetan.]
The motivation the day before yesterday, in the morning, was on meditating on the shortcomings of the self-cherishing thought. This morning is about one way to meditate on the benefits of bodhicitta by looking at the benefits of cherishing other sentient beings.
It’s mentioned by Buddha in the first verse of the sutra Phal Po Che,27
The holy great thought of enlightenment is the treasure of all merit.
From that, all the happiness of living beings arises.
From that all the qualities admired by the Victorious Ones arise.
From that all the three-times’ buddhas come.
From that all the obscurations of all migratory beings are eliminated.
From that there’s no doubt that you will become a Victorious One.
“Victorious Ones” means buddhas. The Buddha explained that bodhicitta, the holy great thought of enlightenment, is the treasure of all merit. Lama Tsongkhapa explained like this in the Hymns of Experience of the Path to Enlightenment, saying,
The generation of the thought of enlightenment is the life-tree of the Mahayana path.
The generation of the thought of enlightenment is the base of the extensive conduct.
Like mercury that transforms base metals into gold, it transforms the two types of merit.
The precious thought of bodhicitta should be kept as a heart practice.
I, the yogi, practiced this way. I ask you who are seeking liberation to also practice this way.28
The generation of the thought of enlightenment is the life-tree of the Mahayana path, meaning the very essence, the heart of the Mahayana path, like a life-tree of a statue. I’m not a hundred percent sure but it might be that the very essence of things like statues or stupas, the blessed thing is the life-tree that’s put inside, which is consecrated with mantras and so forth.
Without the thought of enlightenment there’s no way to experience any qualities of the Mahayana path in the same way that without a heart there can be no life functioning. A similar example is the main road that leads to a city. Without taking that main road we can’t reach the city. Without the thought of enlightenment there’s no way to experience any qualities of the Mahayana path in the same way that without a heart there can be no life functioning.
The second line says that bodhicitta is the base of the extensive conduct. Here, extensive conduct means a bodhisattva’s conduct. A bodhisattva uses the basis of the extensive, great conduct, the six paramitas—generosity, morality, patience, perseverance, concentration and great insight—and the four means of guiding other sentient beings, of drawing them to the Dharma—giving materials to other sentient beings, speaking with sweet, polite words, revealing the Dharma according to their level and oneself living in the practice. Bodhicitta is the basis of the great, extensive deeds, all those bodhisattvas’ activities, those extensive, great, brave deeds of the bodhisattvas.
The next line says bodhicitta is like mercury that transforms [base metals] into gold. Like mercury, bodhicitta transforms the two types of merit, the merit of transcendental wisdom and the merit of the method. What it’s saying is there’s no question of this happening if we have the actual realization of bodhicitta—uncreated or effortless bodhicitta—but even if we just have creative or effortful bodhicitta, the motivation of bodhicitta that is created or effortful, that is generated with a lot of effort, any merit we create is transformed.
With the effortful bodhicitta motivation, by thinking of the reasons and quotations, by thinking how we ourselves are suffering in samsara and then using that as an example to understand how all other sentient beings are also experiencing the suffering of samsara, we are able to generate great compression. That then develops into bodhicitta, the thought of seeking enlightenment for other sentient beings. With much effort, the mind is transformed; the altruistic mind wishing to achieve enlightenment for sentient beings is generated. The actual realization of bodhicitta doesn’t happen naturally, without thinking of those basic reasons.
However, even with the motivation of created, effortful bodhicitta, any merit we accumulate—any merit accumulated by meditating on emptiness, on dependent arising, by practicing charity and morality and so forth—the merit of method or wisdom accumulated even with the effortful motivation of bodhicitta is like the well-obtained mercury that transforms many thousands of pieces of iron into gold. Iron, which is a very ordinary material, is transformed by the mercury, making it very precious, very valuable. Even with the effortful motivation of bodhicitta, any merit that we accumulate becomes the cause of full enlightenment. Everything becomes the cause of full enlightenment.
Even with effort, building up our motivation of bodhicitta, if we try to live our life every day with this thought, with this motivation of bodhicitta, all our actions of twenty-four hours—walking, eating sleeping, sitting, talking and so forth—become the means of accumulating infinite merit. All our twenty-four hours’ actions of eating, sleeping, walking, sitting, talking and so forth become the skillful means of accumulating infinite merit because each action is done for the benefit of all the sentient beings. It’s dedicated to obtaining happiness for every sentient being, therefore each action becomes the skillful means of accumulating infinite merit.
For a bodhisattva even every breath, every sip of a drink, every spoonful of food, because they are all done for the sake of all the sentient beings, each of these actions accumulates infinite merit.
BODHICITTA IS WORTH MORE THAN ANY OTHER REALIZATION
This is like the story of Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo, a recent lineage lama of the graduated path to enlightenment. He did extensive, great work to benefit the teachings and sentient beings. In both ways, in sutra and tantra, he did extensive benefit for other sentient beings. With his full experience he clearly explained sutra teachings and tantric teachings, the whole path to enlightenment.
The life story of Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo. He had one disciple called Togden Rinpoche. In his early life Togden Rinpoche was Nyingmapa, then later he happened to meet a very high lama called Denma Lochö Rinpoche. It might be his present incarnation, I’m not a hundred percent sure, the one who is living in Dharamsala, from whom I also received initiations and teachings, who’s also one of my gurus.
Togden Rinpoche came to debate on emptiness with Denma Lochö Rinpoche, with each question answered by Denma Lochö Rinpoche. Togden Rinpoche went away but as he was going away, the answers made him think so much that he came back, wanting to know more about emptiness. Denma Lochö Rinpoche said if he wanted to realize emptiness then in Lhasa there was a great lama called Pabongka Rinpoche, so he should go there. So Togden Rinpoche went to Lhasa to discuss and receive teachings on emptiness from Pabongka Rinpoche, this great yogi, a fully enlightened being of Chakrasamvara.
After Togden Rinpoche realized emptiness by receiving teachings from Pabongka Rinpoche he became one of his main disciples. He then did retreat for many years under the guidance of Pabongka Rinpoche at the hermitage near Lhasa, called Takden hermitage. This is one of the deity Chakrasamvara’s holy places. From the rock there’s a natural appearance of this deity’s eye, one at the hermitage and one at the bottom on the rock, where there’s a temple called Palace of the King Songtsen Gampo.
In this hermitage, next to a window, on the ceiling there is some kind of triangular-shaped space or hole. It’s said that Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo saw the enlightened being Chakrasamvara there. It’s an extremely blessed, very powerful hermitage. Inside the cave there’s also water. I didn’t notice much but the story is that as the water drips there, there in the sound of the female, the enlightened being Vajrayogini’s mantra. So we all drank that water. There were maybe seventy-one, maybe seventy-three people, at the beginning part of the tour in Tibet. We did a Vajrayogini puja there in that hermitage and even without much meditation, just reciting the sadhana, there was an incredible feeling, blessing, without much meditation, even without concentrating well.
That’s one place in Tibet which I thought to go back to again. From all the holy places I saw on the second tour, among those many, many places, that is one hermitage that impressed me very much to go back again. Another one is the area where there’s the lake of the protector, the Palden Lhamo lake. That lake gives predictions to people, like a Tibetan TV. I’m not sure whether Western TV predicts or not, but that one predicts, showing the future, this life and the future lives, whatever question you ask. That area is also extremely blessed and extremely beautiful. Among the places I visited, with those two places came the strong thought to visit again.
That’s not the main story. The main story is this. It just went all over the place. The main story is, Togden Rinpoche achieved the nine stages of the concentration, calm abiding, shamatha. He then went down from his hermitage to see Pabongka Rinpoche to make an offering of his realizations. At the time he came, saying that he had achieved shamatha, calm abiding, Pabongka Rinpoche was eating, having lunch, eating pak. Pak is barley grain flour [tsampa] mixed with Tibetan tea. You mix them and make a ball and then eat. When Togden Rinpoche told Pabongka Rinpoche that he had this realization, that he’d achieved shamatha with the completion of all these nine stages, Rinpoche replied, “The merit of my eating this one small bowl of tsampa and your having achieved shamatha, one-pointed concentration”—not the whole bowl, just a small ball in his hand—“there’s no comparison.”
What Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo meant was that even though Togden Rinpoche had attained perfect one-pointed concentration that can last as long as you wish, even for eons, without any obstacle, without attachment-scattering thought and sinking thought, there is no comparison with Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo eating one ball of tsampa. What Rinpoche meant was because he has had the realization of bodhicitta, eating that one ball of tsampa has infinite merit. Even eating one ball of tsampa, because it is done for the sake of all sentient beings, it has infinite merit. Therefore you can’t compare the benefits of any other experiences of meditation without bodhicitta and this one, eating one ball of tsampa with bodhicitta.
Even with the effortful motivation of bodhicitta, all our twenty-four hours’ actions, every single action accumulates infinite merit. It all becomes the cause of enlightenment; everything becomes the cause of enlightenment. With each action, we accumulate infinite merit. That’s why Lama Tsongkhapa used the example of well-obtained mercury that can transform many thousands of pieces of iron into gold. That was done by Nagarjuna, who used this means to build many monasteries and to take care of the Sangha.
ALL HAPPINESS COMES FROM BODHICITTA
That’s why at the end of the verse it says, “The precious thought of bodhicitta should be kept as a heart practice.” This is the most important practice. In other words, day and night, developing bodhicitta is what we should be putting all our effort into. It’s the heart practice. That’s the conclusion of the reasons given in the other three lines.
Then Lama Tsongkhapa said, “I, the yogi, practiced this way. I ask you who are seeking liberation to also practice this way.”
So now you can see why in the sutra it says, “The holy, great thought of enlightenment is the treasure of fortune.” With bodhicitta all actions become the cause of the highest achievement, peerless happiness, full enlightenment, therefore also the cause of liberation and of the happiness of [future lives and of] this life. These things happen by the way. They happen by the way, without motivation, without intending them, by the way. Even though we have renounced seeking these happinesses, because bodhicitta becomes the cause of achieving peerless happiness, full enlightenment, it becomes the cause of those other happinesses by the way.
Then the next line: “From that, all the happiness of living beings arises.” Like this, all our past lives’ happiness, our present life’s happiness and our future lives’ happiness, all come from good karma. Good karma means Dharma. Our own good karma, which is Dharma, is also the action of the buddhas. All this comes from the buddhas and buddhas come from bodhisattvas. Bodhisattvas come from bodhicitta. So now you can see that all the three-times’ happiness—all our three-times’ happiness and the three-times’ happiness of every sentient being—comes from bodhicitta. With this evolution, with this reality, you can see how all happiness comes from bodhicitta. It’s very clear how all happiness comes from bodhicitta.
Generally it’s like this. Even if we don’t have actual bodhicitta, but have some good heart, some compassion—even a small amount of compassion, a small altruistic attitude—it makes us benefit other sentient beings. It makes us cause happiness for other sentient beings. Even with this very small compassion, this small altruism, it makes us cause happiness for other sentient beings. Therefore, if we have the actual realization of bodhicitta, it makes us cause, obtain, happiness for all sentient beings.
As I mentioned before, once bodhicitta is generated every single action of body, speech and mind becomes a service for other sentient beings. Every single thing, whatever we do, even breathing, becomes a service for all the sentient beings equaling the infinite sky, infinite space. Everything, every single action we do becomes a service for all sentient beings, to cause them to obtain happiness, to bring them to enlightenment. Even before we become enlightened, all our activities are purely working for all sentient beings. Whether we’re living in a hermitage or some other solitary place or whether we’re living with people in the city—whether we meet people or don’t meet people—every single action of body, speech and mind becomes a service for other sentient beings.
It becomes only work for other sentient beings. Once bodhicitta is generated, there’s no thought of working for ourselves. We completely abandon that thought; we are completely free from that thought, the thought of working for ourselves. Even before we become enlightened it’s like this.
That’s what bodhicitta does even before we become enlightened. It makes us practice the six paramitas, to follow all those paths that make us benefit others more and more, deeper and deeper, becoming more and more skillful for other sentient beings. We develop more and more qualifications, more and more wisdom and skillful means at the same time.
So after we become enlightened, of course, no question, we continuously, without a break of even one second, work for other sentient beings. As long as there are sentient beings. As long as there are sentient beings, as long as sentient beings exist, we continuously work for other sentient beings. On top of ourselves becoming enlightened, by revealing various means we can then bring sentient beings from suffering into temporary happiness, and then from there to ultimate happiness, to liberation and enlightenment. We will eventually bring every single sentient being to the peerless happiness, full enlightenment. This is what we do after we become enlightened.
After we become enlightened, we become one with all the buddhas, we become one with the guru, which means our own mind becomes [one with] the guru’s holy mind, which is the absolute guru, the dharmakaya. Because of that we become one with all the buddhas.
We work for sentient beings as long as there’s the existence of sentient beings, leading every single sentient being to enlightenment. We lead everyone to peerless happiness, full enlightenment.
When we become enlightened, we become one with all the buddhas. After we become enlightened especially, all the happiness of sentient beings comes from us. How that happens is because we become enlightened. And how we become enlightened is because of the very root, bodhicitta. This is one way to think how other sentient beings’ happiness comes from, is dependent on our bodhicitta. If we generate bodhicitta then this is what happens, this is how we’re able to offer all those levels of happiness to sentient beings, including peerless happiness, enlightenment. So like this, from the bodhicitta, all the happiness of all sentient beings arises. It’s because of this first reason, that the thought of enlightenment is treasure of the merit, that we should generate bodhicitta.
The second reason is that the happiness of all sentient beings arises from bodhicitta, and therefore we should generate bodhicitta, we should practice bodhicitta as the main heart practice. Then from this all the qualities that are admired by the buddhas arise. That means all the realizations, all the numberless qualities of the holy body, holy speech, holy mind, all the amazing qualities that even the arhats, who have incredible clairvoyance, can’t see. Even the tenth bhumi bodhisattvas can’t see those secret actions or qualities. All the qualities of the path, the Dharma, and all the qualities of the Sangha come from bodhicitta. Only through bodhicitta can we become enlightened, a Victorious One, so all the three times’ buddhas—all the numberless past buddhas, all the numberless present buddhas and all the numberless future buddhas—come from bodhicitta. That’s the same as I explained before.
Then bodhicitta makes all the migratory beings’ suffering, obscurations, cease. Even just the number of fish in the ocean is uncountable. How many fish there are in the water is uncountable. If we have bodhicitta, it makes all those numberless fish in the water completely free from all the obscurations and all the sufferings. Even just that is amazing. Even just that is unbelievable. Without thinking of all sentient beings, even just the fish that we’re freeing from all the obscurations, all the sufferings, is amazing.
Now we concentrate. The tiny flies that are on top of one piece of cow dung or on top of a small spot of grass are numberless. There are thousands and thousands of tiny flies flying around each other in clouds. If we have bodhicitta, we cease all those flies’ obscurations and we free them from all the sufferings. So think of those numberless flies in one small place. This might be an old story, I don’t remember.
It’s the same thing also in London. Just in a small piece of garden, when we walk on the grass, there are so many tiny insects. When our feet touch the grass, when we walk on the grass, they jump. On the top of the garden, even a small area like this, there are so many tiny flies in space, it’s unbelievable. When it’s dark we don’t see those small flies, but when there’s a sunbeam, if you look from a road through the sunbeam, the space is filled with tiny flies, an unbelievable number. When there’s no sunlight we don’t notice but when there’s sunlight we see there are an unbelievable number. If we have bodhicitta, we cease the obscurations of all those numberless sentient beings, those flies; we free them from all the suffering. Even just that—how unbelievable it is. Even just to think that we ourselves can free all the numberless flies from all the obscurations, the sufferings, it is out of imagination, it’s inconceivable.
If we think that there are numberless ants even in one spot where there’s an ants’ nest—thousands and thousands, millions—if we have bodhicitta, our bodhicitta ceases all the ants’ obscurations and frees them from all the suffering. If this happens in one spot like this, no question in the whole city, no question in the whole mountain, no question in one whole country, no question in one world or in numberless worlds. Even just thinking of ceasing the obscurations of the ants in that one spot, all the sufferings, and bringing them to liberation, full enlightenment, it’s amazing. Even just that is an incredible joy, amazing.
Then we think of all the animal beings, then all the preta beings, the hungry ghosts, all the hell beings, who have the heaviest suffering, all the human beings. Each of them is numberless. One person practicing bodhicitta makes the obscurations and the sufferings of everyone finish, for the countless numbers of each of those beings. It’s amazing. The benefit of having bodhicitta is inconceivable. The happiness we are able to cause other sentient beings is out of the imagination. It’s unimaginable.
We can think this way about ceasing the obscurations and suffering, but in the same way we can think of causing them happiness. It’s really unimaginable what a difference we, one person having bodhicitta, can make, what we are able to offer to the numberless sentient beings.
It’s mentioned in the same text by the Buddha that we can see all the sentient beings’ minds and conduct, but explaining the benefits of bodhicitta can’t be finished. This much we can never say. It’s also said that while we can break the world into atoms and we can count each of the atoms, we can’t count the benefits of bodhicitta. The whole space can be covered by hair and each hair can be counted, but not the benefits of bodhicitta. We can’t measure the benefits of bodhicitta. There are so many benefits explained in the sutra Phal Po Che. In the sutra texts that are kept in monasteries, at the altar, there are many volumes that explain the infinite benefits of bodhicitta.
Practicing bodhicitta, meditating on bodhicitta, trying to actualize bodhicitta is the best. This is the best way to obtain happiness for ourselves; this is the best way to obtain happiness for our family. This is the best way to help our parents, to repay their kindness. This is the best way to bring peace to the world, to all sentient beings.
So therefore think, “To free all sentient beings from suffering and obscurations and to help them achieve enlightenment, I myself must achieve enlightenment, therefore I’m going to take the eight Mahayana precepts.”
Thinking of the shortcomings of the self-cherishing thought, the different ways of meditating on the kindness of sentient beings, all the benefits of bodhicitta, use all that as a motivation for the ordination. In other words, combining the discourse and the ordination.
The aim is to know the different ways to meditate on bodhicitta, such as exchanging oneself for others. That is the aim, to know the different ways to meditate on bodhicitta, especially, particularly the technique of exchanging oneself for others.
Even if you didn’t get to go through the subjects one by one, according to the outline of the lamrim like it’s normally done, even if that didn’t happen but to leave as much of an imprint of bodhicitta in your mind as possible in this last part of the course is important.
So please do the prostrations with the same visualization.
Notes
27 Phal Po Che is the name normally used in Tibetan for the Flower Garland Sutra (Skt: Avatamsakasutra: Tib: mdo phal po che), however I have been unable to find the verse cited by Rinpoche. [Return to text]
28 V. 21. Compare to Thupten Jinpa’s translation: Generating the mind is the central axle of the supreme vehicle path; / It’s the foundation and the support of all expansive deeds; /To all instances of two accumulations it is like the elixir of gold; / It’s the treasury of merits containing myriad collections of virtues. [Return to text]
