Training in the Path of Bodhichitta
There are three stages of training in the path of bodhichitta: 1. training in the six perfections; 2. training in taking in conjunction with the practice of the six perfections; and 3. training in giving in conjunction with the practice of the six perfections.
TRAINING IN THE SIX PERFECTIONS
The six perfections are the actual path to enlightenment, and they are also the path of bodhichitta and the Bodhisattva’s path. Through following this path with the vehicle of bodhichitta we shall definitely reach the state of enlightenment. Our bodhichitta wish is to attain enlightenment to benefit each and every living being directly. To fulfil this wish, in front of our Spiritual Guide or an image of Buddha regarded as the living Buddha, we should promise to engage in the Bodhisattva’s path or training while reciting the following ritual prayer three times. This promise is the Bodhisattva’s vow.
Just as all the previous Sugatas, the Buddhas,
Generated the mind of enlightenment, bodhichitta,
And accomplished all the stages
Of the Bodhisattva’s training,
So will I too, for the sake of all beings,
Generate the mind of enlightenment
And accomplish all the stages
Of the Bodhisattva’s training.
When we take the Bodhisattva’s vow we are taking the commitment to engage in the path to enlightenment, the Bodhisattva’s training, which is the practice of the six perfections. Normally, when we start a job, we commit ourself to fulfilling our employer’s wishes; otherwise we shall quickly lose our job. In the same way, having generated bodhichitta – the determination to attain enlightenment to benefit each and every living being directly – we need to commit ourself to engaging in the practice of the six perfections. If we do not make this commitment by taking the Bodhisattva’s vow, we shall lose our opportunity to attain enlightenment. Through contemplating this we should encourage ourself to take the Bodhisattva’s vow and sincerely practise the six perfections.
The six perfections are the practices of giving, moral discipline, patience, effort, concentration and wisdom, motivated by bodhichitta. We should recognize that the six perfections are our daily practice.
In the practice of giving we should practise: (1) giving material help to those in poverty, including giving food to animals; (2) giving practical help to those sick or physically weak; (3) giving protection by always trying to save others’ lives, including those of insects; (4) giving love – learning to cherish all living beings by always believing that their happiness and freedom are important; and (5) giving Dharma, helping others to solve their problems of anger, attachment and ignorance by giving Dharma teachings or meaningful advice.
In the practice of moral discipline we should abandon any inappropriate actions including those that cause others suffering. We should especially abandon breaking our commitments of the Bodhisattva’s vow. This is the basic foundation upon which we can make progress on the Bodhisattva’s path. By doing this our actions of body, speech and mind will be pure, so that we become a pure being.
In the practice of patience we should never allow ourself to become angry or discouraged, by temporarily accepting any difficulties or harm from others. When we practise patience we are wearing the supreme inner armour that directly protects us from physical sufferings, mental pain and other problems. Anger destroys our merit, or good fortune, so that we shall continually experience many obstacles, and because of lacking good fortune it will be difficult to fulfil our wishes, especially our spiritual aims. There is no greater evil than anger. With the practice of patience we can accomplish any spiritual aim; there is no greater virtue than patience.
In the practice of effort we should rely upon irreversible effort to accumulate the great collections of merit and wisdom, which are the main causes of attaining Buddha’s Form Body (Rupakaya), and Truth Body (Dharmakaya); and especially we should emphasize contemplation and meditation on emptiness, the way things really are. By doing this we can easily make progress on the path to enlightenment. With effort we can accomplish our aim, whereas with laziness we cannot achieve anything.
In the practice of concentration, at this stage we should emphasize accomplishing the concentration of tranquil abiding observing emptiness. an explanation is given below in the section A Simple Training in Ultimate Bodhichitta. When, through the power of this concentration, we experience a special wisdom called ‘superior seeing’ that realizes the emptiness of all phenomena very clearly, we shall have progressed from being a Bodhisattva on the path of accumulation to being a Bodhisattva on the path of preparation.
In the practice of wisdom, at this stage we need to emphasize increasing the power of our wisdom of superior seeing by continually meditating on the emptiness of all phenomena with bodhichitta motivation. Through this, when our superior seeing transforms into the path of seeing, which is the direct realization of the emptiness of all phenomena, we shall have progressed from being a Bodhisattva on the path of preparation to being a Bodhisattva on the path of seeing. The moment we attain the path of seeing we are a Superior Bodhisattva and no longer experience samsara’s sufferings. Even if someone cuts our body piece by piece with a knife we have no pain because we have the direct realization of the way things really are.
Having completed the path of seeing, to make further progress we need to engage continually in the meditation on the emptiness of all phenomena with bodhichitta motivation. This meditation is called the ‘path of meditation’. When we reach this stage we shall have progressed from being a Bodhisattva on the path of seeing to being a Bodhisattva on the path of meditation.
Having completed the path of meditation, when our wisdom of the path of meditation transforms into an omniscient wisdom that is permanently free from all mistaken appearances, this omniscient wisdom is called the ‘Path of No More Learning’, which is actual enlightenment. When we reach this stage we shall have progressed from being a Bodhisattva on the path of meditation to being an enlightened being, a Buddha. We shall have completed the ultimate goal of living beings.
The Bodhisattva’s initial training in accumulating merit or wisdom is the Bodhisattva’s path of accumulation; the Bodhisattva’s training in accumulating merit or wisdom that is a preparation for attaining the path of seeing is the Bodhisattva’s path of preparation; the Bodhisattva’s training that is the initial direct realization of emptiness is the Bodhisattva’s path of seeing; after completing the path of seeing the Bodhisattva’s training that meditates continually on emptiness is the Bodhisattva’s path of meditation; and Buddha’s omniscient wisdom that is attained through completing all the trainings of Sutra and Tantra is the Path of No More Learning, the state of enlightenment.
TRAINING IN TAKING IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE
PRACTICE OF THE SIX PERFECTIONS
There are four main benefits of the meditations on taking and giving: they are powerful methods (1) to purify the potentialities of non-virtuous actions that cause us to experience incurable diseases such as cancer; (2) to accumulate a great collection of merit; (3) to ripen our potentiality to be able to benefit all living beings; and (4) to purify our mind.
There was once a Lamrim practitioner called kharak Gomchen who was seriously afflicted by leprosy. The treatments given by his doctors did not work, and each year his condition grew worse. Finally, his doctors told him that there was nothing they could do to cure his disease. Believing that he would soon die, Gomchen left his home and went to a cemetery to prepare for death. While staying in the cemetery, he concentrated day and night on practising the meditations on taking and giving with strong compassion for all living beings. Through this practice he was completely cured and returned home healthy and with a happy mind. There are many other similar examples.
At the moment we are unable to benefit all living beings but we have the potential for this ability, which is part of our Buddha nature. Through practising the meditations on taking and giving with strong compassion for all living beings, the potential to be able to benefit all living beings will ripen, and when this happens we shall become an enlightened being, a Buddha. When we purify our mind through the practices of taking and giving, every spiritual realization will grow easily in our mind. Through contemplating the four main benefits of meditating on taking and giving, we should encourage ourself to practise these meditations sincerely.
‘Taking’ in this context means taking others’ sufferings upon ourself through meditation. When we meditate on taking our motivation should be compassion, thinking:
I must permanently liberate all living beings from their suffering and fears in this life and countless future lives.
In this way, by giving protection we are practising the perfection of giving; by abandoning self-cherishing we are practising the perfection of moral discipline; by willingly accepting any adverse conditions obstructing our practice of taking we are practising the perfection of patience; by applying effort to practising this meditation continually, free from laziness, we are practising the perfection of effort; by concentrating single-pointedly on the meditation on taking, free from distraction, we are practising the perfection of concentration; and by realizing that we ourself, all living beings, and their suffering all exist as mere names and do not inherently exist we are practising the perfection of wisdom. This is how we should train in the meditation on taking in conjunction with practising the six perfections. This is a very profound method of practising the six perfections. We should apply this same method to all other meditations, such as the meditation on death, so that we can quickly make progress along the path to enlightenment.
There are two stages to the meditation on taking: 1. meditation on taking focusing on all living beings; and 2. meditation on taking focusing on particular living beings.
MEDITATION ON TAKING FOCUSING ON
ALL LIVING BEINGS
In this first stage we focus on the assembly of all living beings without exception, and then think from the depths of our heart:
In their countless future lives these living beings will continually experience without choice the sufferings of humans, animals, hungry ghosts, hell beings, demi-gods and gods. How wonderful it would be if all these living beings were permanently freed from the suffering and fears in this life and countless future lives! May they achieve this. I myself will work for them to achieve this. I must do this.
Thinking in this way, we imagine that the sufferings of all living beings gather together in the aspect of black smoke. This dissolves into our ignorance of self-grasping and self-cherishing at our heart. We then strongly believe that all living beings are permanently freed from suffering, and that our ignorance of self-grasping and self-cherishing is completely destroyed. We meditate on this belief single-pointedly for as long as possible.
With compassion for all living beings we should continually practise this meditation until we experience signs that indicate our mind has been purified. These signs can include the curing of any sickness we may have, the reducing of our delusions, our having a more peaceful and happy mind, the increasing of our faith, correct intention and correct view, and especially the strengthening of our experience of universal compassion.
MEDITATION ON TAkING FOCUSING ON
PARTICULAR LIVING BEINGS
In this meditation we can focus, for example, on the assembly of living beings who experience the suffering of sickness. We then think:
These living beings experience the suffering of sickness in this life and in their countless future lives without end. How wonderful it would be if these living beings were permanently freed from sickness! May they achieve this. I myself will work for them to achieve this. I must do this.
Thinking in this way, we imagine that the suffering of sickness of all living beings gathers together in the aspect of black smoke. This dissolves into our ignorance of self-grasping and self-cherishing at our heart. We then strongly believe that all these living beings are permanently freed from sickness, and that our ignorance of self-grasping and self-cherishing is completely destroyed. We meditate on this belief single-pointedly for as long as possible.
In the same way, we can practise the meditation on taking while focusing on a particular individual or group of living beings who are experiencing other sufferings such as poverty, fighting and famine.
We should apply effort, in particular, to developing deep familiarity with the meditation on taking focusing on all living beings. This meditation makes our mind pure, which in turn makes our actions pure so that we become a pure being. If we die with strong compassion for all living beings we shall definitely be born in the Pure Land of a Buddha. This is because our compassion that manifests when we are dying will directly cause our potential for taking rebirth in the Pure Land of a Buddha to ripen. This is the good result of a good heart. The result of maintaining the good heart of sincerely wishing to liberate permanently all living beings from suffering is that we ourself shall experience permanent liberation from suffering by taking rebirth in the Pure Land of a Buddha.
For example, when Geshe Chekhawa was dying he developed the sincere wish to be reborn in hell in order to help hell beings directly, but he received clear visions that he would be reborn in Sukhavati, the Pure Land of Buddha amitabha. He told his assistant ‘Unfortunately my wish will not be fulfilled.’ The assistant asked him ‘What is your wish?’, and Geshe Chekhawa replied: ‘My wish is to take rebirth in hell so that I can help hell beings directly, but I have seen clear signs that I shall be born in the Pure Land of Buddha amitabha.’ although Geshe Chekhawa wanted to take rebirth in hell, his compassion for all living beings prevented him from taking a lower rebirth; he had no choice but to go to a Buddha’s Pure Land where he experienced permanent liberation from suffering. However, although Geshe Chekhawa took rebirth in a Pure Land, he was able to help hell beings through his emanations.
We may think our belief that living beings have attained permanent liberation from suffering through our meditation is incorrect, because living beings have not actually attained this. Although it is true that living beings have not actually attained permanent liberation, our belief is still correct because it arises from our compassion and wisdom. Meditating on this belief will cause our potentiality of being able to liberate all living beings permanently from suffering to ripen quickly, so that we shall attain enlightenment quickly. Therefore we should never abandon such a beneficial belief, which is the nature of wisdom. Meditation on taking is the quick path to enlightenment, and has a similar function to Tantric practice. It is said that Tantric realizations can be achieved simply through relying upon correct belief and imagination. This practice is very simple; all we need to do is to become deeply familiar with meditation on correct belief and imagination as presented in Tantra, by applying continual effort.
TRAINING IN GIVING IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE
PRACTICE OF THE SIX PERFECTIONS
‘Giving’ in this context means giving our own happiness to others through meditation. In general, in the cycle of impure life, samsara, there is no real happiness at all. as mentioned previously, the happiness that we normally experience through eating, drinking, sex and so forth is not real happiness, but merely a reduction of a previous problem or dissatisfaction. For example, if the happiness we experience from sex is real happiness, then it would follow that sex itself would be a real cause of happiness. If this were true, then the more we had sex, the more our happiness would increase, but actually the opposite would happen; instead of happiness increasing, our suffering would increase. In Four Hundred Verses the Buddhist Master aryadeva says:
The experience of suffering will never be changed by the same cause,
But we can see the experience of happiness will be changed by the same cause.
This means that, for example, the suffering caused by fire will never be changed into happiness by that fire, but we can see that the happiness caused, for example, by eating will change into suffering just through eating.
How do we meditate on giving? In Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life Shantideva says:
... to accomplish the welfare of all living beings
I will transform my body into an enlightened
wishfulfilling jewel.
We should regard our continuously residing body, our very subtle body, as the real wishfulfilling jewel; this is our Buddha nature through which the wishes of ourself and all other living beings will be fulfilled. We then think:
All living beings wish to be happy all the time, but they do not know how to do this. They never experience real happiness, because out of ignorance they destroy their own happiness by developing delusions such as anger and performing non-virtuous actions. How wonderful it would be if all these living beings experienced the pure and everlasting happiness of enlightenment! May they experience this happiness. I will now give my own future happiness of enlightenment to each and every living being.
Thinking in this way we imagine that from our continuously residing body at our heart we emanate infinite rays of light, which are in nature our future happiness of enlightenment. These reach all living beings of the six realms, and we strongly believe that each and every living being experiences the pure and everlasting happiness of enlightenment. We meditate on this belief single-pointedly for as long as possible. We should continually practise this meditation until we spontaneously believe that all living beings have actually received our future happiness of enlightenment now. Through this practice we are like a Bodhisattva who practises shepherd-like bodhichitta. Just as a shepherd wishes to provide protection and necessary conditions for his flock before he himself relaxes, a Bodhisattva who practises shepherd-like bodhichitta wishes to prepare protection and ultimate happiness for all beings before accomplishing it for himself.
This meditation has four main benefits: (1) it increases our wishing love for all living beings; (2) it ripens our potential ability to benefit all living beings; (3) it accumulates a great collection of merit, or good fortune; and (4) it causes our ordinary appearances and conceptions to cease.
Our future happiness of enlightenment is the result of our generating compassion for all living beings. The meditation on giving brings this future result into the path, and is therefore a quick path to enlightenment that has a similar function to Tantric practice. We should apply great effort to practise this meditation so that we can quickly make progress on the path to enlightenment.
When we are meditating on giving, our motivation should be wishing love. By giving love in this way we are practising the perfection of giving; by abandoning self-cherishing we are practising the perfection of moral discipline; by willingly accepting any adverse conditions obstructing our practice of giving we are practising the perfection of patience; by applying effort to practising this meditation continually, free from laziness, we are practising the perfection of effort; by concentrating single-pointedly on the meditation on giving, free from distraction, we are practising the perfection of concentration; and by realizing that we ourself, all living beings, and their happiness all exist as mere names and do not inherently exist we are practising the perfection of wisdom. This is how we should train in the meditation on giving in conjunction with practising the six perfections.
Training in giving is a special meditation on wishing love that sincerely wishes all living beings to attain real happiness – the pure and everlasting happiness of liberation and enlightenment. as mentioned above, meditation on wishing love is also called ‘immeasurable love’ because just by meditating on wishing love we receive immeasurable benefits in this life and in countless future lives.