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This afternoon we are going to have instructions on
taking the Bodhisattva Vow and the benefits of taking it.
Generally speaking, having desire, anger, pride and many
conflicting emotions in our mind is the cause of all the
suffering that we experience. Suffering is caused by
conflicting emotions and also we have a mind which has great
grasping.
If we have great grasping and a mind which is under the
power of conflicting emotions, then our mind becomes smaller
and smaller. Normally what is the thought that occupies our
mind? It is the thought that I am the most important, I should
succeed, I should have victory and the other person should
fail. If we have a mind state where we think only about
ourselves, and try to put ourselves at the top or be the best,
then generally speaking, whatever we try to accomplish, we
will fail. So then we lose both the benefit which we could
have obtained for ourselves, and also benefit for anyone else.
It is like what was taught yesterday: if you wear a pair of
glasses with blue tinted lenses then everything will be
perceived as blue. Or if one wore yellow tinted lenses
everything would be perceived as yellow.
We are going to use an example of somebody who
habitually steals. Wherever he goes, as he passes by people's
homes he looks in wondering how he could break in and steal
their belongings. If he is in town he looks at the shop
doorways and windows thinking how he could get inside and
steal things. Imagine that thief is in his own house with his
own belongings, there is jewellery and other precious things
that he owns. Somebody comes to his house and happens to look
at some of the things on the table. The thief automatically
thinks, "This person comes to my house and after one second he
is looking to see how to steal my stuff!" If you went into a
house where you have never been before, it's quite natural
that you might look around at the windows, doors and the
contents of the house. Someone does this and the thief is
thinking, "Oh, he really is thinking of stealing my stuff and
not only that, he is working out how to escape!" So if one is
a confirmed habitual thief, you will perceive other people as
having that kind of mind state and intention. And if you are a
person who has a lot of anger, then you will perceive other
people to have anger and ill intent towards you.
What beneficial method could be used at this point? At
this point we need wisdom. We need to think, "What appears to
me to be somebody else's anger or whatever emotion is arising,
is an appearance, just an illusion. It's not real. One needs
to understand the illusory nature of appearances. So it's like
before in the thief's house - the man comes in and just
generally looks around. He is not thinking of stealing things
but your perception is such that you think he intends to steal
your belongings. The person who has an habitual tendency to
steal, to be a thief, will perceive other people to have that
intention towards him, and without reason he will shout at
this person, abuse them and accuse them of trying to steal his
things.
But if the thief realizes that "Oh, the person just
entered my house, and it's just my own illusion that I think
he is a thief - if he understands that, if he has that wisdom,
he won't have any problem. The first stage of wisdom is to
recognize that you have, for example, anger in your mind. One
needs to recognize, "I have anger in my mind and this is how
it manifests, this is how it makes me think and react." It is
the same for jealousy.
With anger, a person always has an object for their
anger. Having that object gives rise to anger in his mind:
seeing the object makes him unhappy. Then jealousy comes,
thinking that he and other beings are exactly the same. But it
seems that other people like others better than him. "That's
not very good. We are equal, same type of person and we have
the same amount of belongings. In the future this person may
get more wealth than me and that's not going to be good at
all." With that fault in his mind, he starts to think badly
about that person, he has thoughts of harming him. Then come
harmful thoughts and harmful actions. Meaning and benefit are
lost. Both people end up accomplishing nothing.
Now if we look at pride, this is based on wanting
someone to be inferior to you. "This person has no good
qualities at all, he is nothing. I'm the best, I've got so
many possessions and so much wealth. I'm really famous. He has
got nothing. I can meditate really well. He doesn't understand
anything. The sort of realization and experience that I've got
- nobody has that." That's what we call pride. If we have
pride in our mind we rule out the possibility of having much
opportunity to obtain any more qualities. The fault we have is
thinking that nobody else has any qualities at all.
Desire comes from an object which causes desire to
arise in the mind. We are completely out of control, our mind
thinks solely about obtaining this object. Any other thoughts
are totally obstructed. One has only one idea, to obtain this
object.
Ignorance is really not knowing what is good and what
is bad. One's mind becomes smaller and smaller and one can
only think about small things.
That's what we call the classification of the five
emotions, the mind poisons. But all of these various emotions
really are, if you bring them down to one point, thinking that
one is superior, and one needs certain things, and that others
are worse than you. So, if a person has these five emotions in
his mind and also the attitude of selfishness and thinking
solely about themselves and maybe putting other people down,
then this will result in not being able to obtain a mind which
has any happiness or peace in it. We will have an
example.
If a person has a very strong grasp of the idea that
they are the most important, what kind of emotions would come
up in the mind of that person? The sort of thing that would
come up is "that person is intending to harm me. So then anger
will arise and he thinks: "That person wants to get higher
than me, wants to be better than me." Then jealousy will
arise. Thinking that that person has nothing, no qualities
whatsoever, and "I've got everything, I'm very clever" or "I'm
very famous", this is giving rise to pride. Thinking that "I
need to get this object and I don't want anybody else to get
it, I'm the only one who can have it", that's giving rise to
desire. So ignorance is that one's mind becomes very small and
one doesn't have a light body or a vast open mind and one has
thoughts only about very small topics.
The arising of these five mind poisons depend really,
if you look at it, on the feeling that I myself, I am the most
important, and having a very great grasping at that idea. The
main point is that one thinks only about oneself. "That person
doesn't want to do anything nice to me, he wants to hurt me."
Me, me, me. "That person wants to go higher than me, again me,
that person and me, we are not equal. That thing I need to
obtain." If we have this kind of mind state, which is pervaded
by the five emotions, and grasping at the thought that we are
the most important, then one will never be able to say: that's
enough now, I'm satisfied. You would never to be able to say
that, because you would never feel it. So you will have a very
small and very touchy mind. You think, "He is not good, that
person is not nice…" For example, if you look at somebody who
is not doing anything, just neutrally sitting there. You are
looking at this person and he just sits. "Hmm, I don't think
he likes me." You look at him out of the corner of your eye.
The man, who is just sitting there, minding his own business,
thinks, "That's a bit strange, that guy is giving me a really
strange look. I haven't done anything to him, what's wrong?
Maybe he is a bit crazy; he might be thinking of harming me."
Then he looks back at you and thinks, "Maybe you are not very
nice." So then you think: "He did look at me very strangely.
Now he is looking me strangely again! That's twice now." Then
the two of you end up arguing and it will grow and grow.
That's what we call misunderstanding. The reason for the
misunderstanding, arguing and fighting, is that one's mind has
become very small, very sensitive.
We'll have another example. If we have an argument,
it's normally based on something very small. For example one
person puts his watch down. The other person says, "Don't put
it there, put it here." The first one disagrees. They change
it backwards and forwards, "I'm right, you are wrong." There
is no point to it. Starting with a very small idea, we make it
bigger. That's a sign of having a very sensitive mind. It's
also a sign that one has a very strong sense of feeling that
one is important and just thinking about oneself. If we have
this very strong grasping, that we are the most important, we
will never be able to accomplish our wishes. If we have love
for another person they will generate love for us, return
love. So, if we give love to another person, that love is the
best. Then we can give rise to the best type of
love.
Generally speaking, all our problems and suffering
start with a very small beginning. In the beginning, at the
point when anger arises, we need to recognise it. Then think,
"Oh, I'm beginning to become angry." That's called wisdom or
mindfulness. If one doesn't have any other method, if one just
has that method, that's wisdom. So, one will be able to
control one's mind. Normally one will be able to have this
awareness arising, mindfulness.
I'm going to give you a story. This story is related to
love and compassion. This story happened in China. There was a
husband and wife. Traditionally the wife and her mother-in-law
don't get along very well, they are constantly arguing. One
day it happened that they had quite an argument in someone's
home. The wife was thinking that her mother-in-law is very
cruel and often says very bad things. She felt very angry
towards her. Later she was even angrier. She thought, "I'm
going to kill my mother-in-law. How am I going to do it?" She
went to a doctor and asked for poison. "I need the poison,
because my mother-in-law is always nagging me and shouting and
putting me down. So I shall give her poison and then she will
die. I'll be happy." The doctor agreed and gave her some
medicine. He gave advice with it, "Now you give this medicine
to your mother-in-law, but she won't die immediately, she will
die very slowly. So you need to give this medicine a little
bit every day with the food. If she dies immediately, then
everybody will know that you gave her the poison. They will
know that I gave the poison to you, and they will take me to
jail. So it's better she doesn't die straight away. "Give the
medicine a little bit every day and after you have given it,
you have to be really nice to her, say nice things to your
mother-in-law." She thought, "This is great." Every day she
put little bit of poison in the food and gave it to her,
saying nice things. In her mind she thought - she is going to
die soon. A few days later she looked at her mother-in-law and
thought, "She doesn't seem so bad after all." After a month
she thought, "She actually is a decent person, a very good
person. Oh dear, I have been giving her poison for a month!"
What to do? Although she had given poison to her
mother-in-law, now she liked her. Also the mother-in-law's
attitude had changed and she liked her daughter in law more
than her own son.
So the daughter-in-law ran off to the doctor again,
worrying. She said, "Look I came to you a month ago and asked
for poison to kill my old mother-in-law, but actually I really
like her now, she is very good. When I thought she was bad
before I was mistaken. If you have any antidote for this
poison, please give it to me." The doctor said, "Is it really
true? Do you really believe that?" She said, "Yes, I really
believe this." The doctor said, "Sorry, there is no antidote."
She was very sad. The doctor said, "If you don't give poison
to somebody, there is no need of an antidote. If you do give
poison to somebody, then you need an antidote. In this case
you didn't give her poison and I haven't got any antidote to a
poison which hasn't been given." Both the doctor and the
daughter-in-law were happy. Then the doctor gave her a
technique. What the doctor told to the daughter-in-law I'm
going to tell you. I'm going to give you this
method.
In the first instance the mother-in-law and the
daughter-in-law had a misunderstanding, and they both saw each
other in a very negative way, so they had many arguments. At
the time the daughter-in-law was speaking nicely to the
mother-in-law, they both changed somewhat, and they both saw
each other in a different light. If we have very small and
shrivelled up minds, we will cause problems for ourselves and
others. But if we have a light, open mind we are going to give
happiness and peace to others and we will also experience
happiness and peace in our own mind. That's the end of the
story.
So, if we don't have a mind which is intent on
benefiting others, we will see other people as enemies and
cause harm to them, and we will never obtain peace and
happiness. As many enemies as we try to subdue, we will never
be able to do it, there will always be another one. If we
really want to defeat an enemy, the best way is to kill them.
If you kill an enemy, behind him are two further enemies. Kill
two - four come. If you kill four, eight come. In the end the
whole world becomes transformed into enemies. Then you will
not be able to subdue the enemies. They increase. If you look
at it, the real enemy is anger etc. If we have peace in our
mind, a peaceful mind, everybody will perceive us as a friend
and we will have no enemies at all. Whatever we say, people
will listen. Our friends will become more and more. They will
become stronger friends. As an example, if the leaders of
Britain (whoever they are) look after the people in a good
way, the people will vote for them, support them and their
power will grow. If they don't look after the people, we won't
vote for them and they will become less powerful. This is the
nature of things, interdependence.
If you take as an example Hitler in Germany, he subdued
and killed lots of his enemies. But even at the time he was
killing his enemies he didn't have any peace in his mind and
in the final instant he committed suicide. He didn't achieve
his purpose at all.
If we really do have this desire in our minds to be of
benefit to other beings, then our mind becomes open and vast,
we have courage and self-confidence and our view will be
spacious. We will see other sentient beings as our friends.
All beings will naturally give rise to a feeling of love in
us. Then we will see everybody as good. If we wear a pair of
glasses with lenses extremely clear and clean, we'll see
everything as being clear and clean. We'll have no enemies.
You will have self-confidence, peace and happiness.
Here is another example. At the end of this example
there will be a question. The question is not difficult. It's
about a man in a forest. The man in the forest walks around,
up and down the hills. Long time ago people were like that.
While walking, the man was getting stones and thorns in his
feet. He thought, "How can I stop my feet being hurt by the
gravel and thorns? I know what to do, I'll cover all the roads
with leather." So he covered the roads, but he only managed to
cover about three miles before the leather run out. After
those three miles he had to walk on gravel and thorns again.
At that point, what method could he use?
Answers: Use shoes. Walk on his hands. Jump from a tree
to another. Learn to levitate.
Rinpoche: If it is possible to do all these it's very
good. Now I'm going to tell you. The best method would be to
have a small piece of leather, just the size of his feet. That
will be enough. Long time ago people did not have shoes. And
they weren't able to meditate very well. If one had just
enough leather to cover the shape of one's feet, then one
could go all over the world and it would be the same as
covering the whole world with leather. Likewise with us, if we
have peace in our mind, if we pacify the conflicting emotions,
then it is the same as conquering all the enemies in the
world.
Having the motivation to benefit others is a benefit
for us in the present life. It's said that if one has even a
small particle of compassion, at that moment it purifies
countless aeons of negative karma. If we have a mind which
benefits others, then demons and ghosts and so on cannot harm
us. Also the black magicians cannot harm us, if we have the
wish to bring benefit. If we have a mind which causes harm to
other people by generating anger, we are also harmed. But if
we have a mind which wishes to benefit others and our actions
are motivated by that, we will receive the best of benefits
and others are benefited too. So, naturally, benefit arises
both for us and others.
Following this bodhisattva path to the level of
complete enlightenment, buddhahood, this is the way the
previous Buddhas and Bodhisattvas followed, and when you reach
complete enlightenment, then you will have total omniscience
and you will have complete and vast love. One has complete
power.
What's the reason for these three qualities arising?
The cause is having generated the bodhicitta mind previously
and the wish to benefit others. The cause for us to be
travelling around in samsara lifetime after lifetime is the
selfish idea that we are the best and we should be victorious
and others are inferior and they should lose.
There are three types of mind which wish to benefit
others: there is loving-kindness and compassion, there is
limitless loving-kindness and limitless compassion, and there
is the bodhicitta mind. With these three, one's mind will
become vaster and greater, open. What is the most vast, open
and strong of minds? The most vast of minds would be to think
that based on the realisation of my natural mind state, my
bodhicitta mind, I have the desire to bring all sentient
beings, totally freed from suffering, to the level of complete
and perfect enlightenment. For that reason I am going to
practise and I will bring all beings out of suffering to the
level of perfect enlightenment. Then one's mind becomes very
vast. There is no other way to get a mind so vast, that's the
only way. The bigger one's mind, the bigger the benefit will
be.
For example, if you plant the seed of a medicinal
plant, the root of that plant will be medicinal and
beneficial. If you plant a poisonous plant, then the result
will be poisonous. That's the completion of the explanation of
the benefits of the bodhicitta mind.
If you take the commitments of the bodhisattva vow,
what are the commitments we have to stick to, what do we have
to think about? There are several kinds, but if you want to
put them into one there is one main point of teaching which
contains all types of commitments.
One has the intention to bring all sentient beings out
of suffering to the level of complete enlightenment. To have
that in mind is the basis of one's commitment. So even if
there is one sentient being with whom from time to time you
have arguments, and who maybe causes harm to you, you don't
abandon them, you don't leave them out. You think, "At the
moment you are causing harm to me, but in the end, even you
I'm going to take to enlightenment." But at certain times you
might have arguments and unpleasantness between you. If you
haven't completely purified your mind stream of the five
mental poisons, then of course it is easy to have arguments
with people and unpleasantness from time to time without you
being in control of that.
You can't think: ""I'm going to take all sentient
beings except that one, to the level of enlightenment, that's
not correct. But it does happen from time to time that we
might give rise to some small doubts and think that we are not
able to bring all beings to enlightenment. That's okay, it is
possible something like that may arise, but in your deep mind
you still hold onto the idea that to bring all sentient beings
out of suffering to complete enlightenment would be a very
good thing. It is very good to have that.
It is said that even if you broke your bodhisattva vow,
there is great benefit in taking it in the first place. There
are two situations: one is when you have not taken the
bodhisattva vow and you are not generating either too much
good or negative karma and the second situation is when you
take the bodhisattva vow and you keep it a certain period of
time, and you again don't generate too much negative or
positive karma, and you actually come to a point that you
break your vow. Out of these two situations, having taken the
vow up to the point of breaking it is more beneficial, it is
said. But if you can take the bodhisattva vow and not break
it, then it is said you swiftly reach the level of
enlightenment. That is the completion of the advice about the
bodhisattva vow. |
