Arousing Bodhicittaby Yukhok Chatralwa Chöying Rangdrol

Bodhicitta is that which makes the path of Mahāyāna special, and you should knowits benefits, as well as how to take the vow, and the precepts and so on, all in precisedetail.

Consider that you and all other beings are seated before the field of merit, visualizedjust as in the refuge practice, and, with a firm resolve to take the vow of bodhicitta,recite the words of the text:

Ho! Mesmerized by the sheer variety of perceptions, which are like the illusoryreflections of the moon in water,Beings wander endlessly astray in saṃsāra's vicious cycle,In order that they may find comfort and ease in the luminosity and all-pervading space of the true nature of their minds,I generate the immeasurable love, compassion, joy, and equanimity of theawakened mind, the heart of bodhicitta.

Repeat these lines three times or as many times as possible. The initial syllable ‘Ho’is an expression of wonder or amazement. What is so wonderful and amazing?Generating bodhicitta out of a state complete with the four immeasurable qualities,so that all sentient beings may find comfort and ease in the luminosity and all-pervading space of the true nature of their minds. That is amazing. Others say thatthis is an expression of compassion, in which case the objects of our compassion areall suffering beings. Then there are those who say it is an expression of sadness.

Sentient beings experience all kinds of happiness and suffering as a result of thevarious actions they have committed in the past. These mistaken experiences in theirown minds are just like the reflections of the moon in water: they appear, but whenexamined, they are not real. Neither subject nor object is to be found at the time ofthe fundamental ground or at the time of the ultimate result. So these temporarydelusory appearances, which are false and deceptive, are just like a variety ofpaintings created by the diversity of our own past actions. As it is said, “Karma islike an artist.” Even a single body of water will be perceived differently by the beingsof the six classes, as a result of their particular karma and habitual tendencies, andas long as they have this dualistic deluded mind, beings will continue to wanderendlessly astray in saṃsāra's vicious cycle.

Now we are practising so that they might be freed from their karmic vision andhabitual patterns, and arrive at the luminosity and all-pervading space of the truenature of their minds, reaching the level of buddhahood, where they will findcomfort, ease and relief from all the exhaustions and hardships brought about by

1

their own non-virtues. To this end, we generate immeasurable compassion, which isthe wish that they may be freed from suffering and its causes, together with itscause, immeasurable equanimity, which is the wish that they may be freed fromattachment to close friends and family and aversion to enemies. Likewise, wegenerate immeasurable love, which is the wish that they may have happiness and itscauses, and immeasurable joy, which is the wish that they may never be separatedfrom happiness and its causes. With the force of the compassion born of the first twoimmeasurables, we focus on all sentient beings throughout the whole of space. Thenwith the latter two qualities, we focus on complete enlightenment with the strengthof wisdom—wishing, with immeasurable love, that they gain the very highest formof happiness by attaining the dharmakāya luminosity, and wishing, withimmeasurable joy, that they never part from it.

Having trained our minds in these four immeasurable qualities again and again, wegenerate the bodhicitta of aspiration, by saying to ourselves: “In order to bring allsentient beings to the lasting happiness of complete liberation, I will do whatever Ican to attain the precious level of perfect buddhahood.” And we generate thebodhicitta of application, thinking: “To that end, I will train in the vast activity of thebodhisattvas, represented by this profound path, and strive with diligence until not asingle being is left behind in saṃsāra.”

To make the practice more elaborate, at this point we could practise consideringothers as equal to ourselves and exchanging ourselves and others. In particular, it iscrucially important that we focus on giving away our own happiness as we breatheout and taking on the sufferings of others as we breathe in—the practice of ‘givingand receiving’ or tonglen—and that we meditate as much as we possibly can onabsolute bodhicitta, the union of tranquillity (śamatha) and insight (vipaśyanā), inwhich there is certainty regarding the selflessness of individuals and of phenomena.

In the biography of the precious lord Atiśa it is told how, having arrived in Tibet, hesaid to Geshe Tönpa and others:

If you lack bodhicitta, then whatever you do, whether listening to manyteachings, studying, reflecting, meditating, practising the generation andcompletion phases, meditating on the view of Madhyamaka, or recitingmantras and such, it will be of no use. All virtuous actions that are notcombined with bodhicitta and all virtuous actions that weaken our bodhicittaare the agency of Māra.

At the end of the session, consider that you and all sentient beings dissolve into theobjects of refuge. They dissolve into the lama in the centre. He, in turn, dissolvesinto the primordial expanse of the dharmakāya, free from any conceptualelaboration, and you rest in meditation. Alternatively, you could consider that, at theend of the session, the field of merit melts into light, beginning at its outer edges,

2

and then dissolves into the lama in the centre. He too melts into light, and dissolvesinto you at the crown of your head. Through this, the absolute bodhicitta presentwithin their minds arises vividly in your own mind, and you dedicate the merit.

As the precepts of the bodhicitta of aspiration, train in consider others as equal toyourself, exchanging yourself and others, and considering others as more importantthan yourself. As the precepts of the bodhicitta of application, train in the sixtranscendent perfections.

| Translated by Adam Pearcey, Rigpa Translations, 2006 (revised 2012). Thanks to Ringu TulkuRinpoche for his clarifications.

Main » Next

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.

PDF document automatically generated on Sat Oct 31 18:20:08 2015 GMT from http://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/yukhok-chatralwa/ngondro-compendium-3

3