We are going through this text by Tsongkhapa in which he gives practical advice about how to practice, and this is in a letter to his friend Konchog-tsultrim.
Reliance on a Qualified Spiritual Mentor
He starts in terms of saying that we have an excellent working basis of a human rebirth. We’ve met with the teachings, we’re cared for by a great teacher, and we can discern between what’s to be adopted and rejected. Therefore, we have to engage ourselves in the teachings, and to do this we need to rely on a teacher. The teacher has to be qualified, knowing the difference between what is and is not the appropriate pathways of mind that we need to develop in order to reach the spiritual goals, and has to know all the details, not add anything, not leave anything out, and know how to apply it in a graded order to each of their disciples. The teacher needs to have gained certainty about this from having been led through this spiritual path himself or herself by a qualified teacher in accordance with the great classics of Buddhist literature.
The Motivating Mental Framework
As for how to begin the practice, then, Tsongkhapa points out what Nagarjuna and the other great Indian masters have said: we need to tame our mind. For that we have to have the appropriate motivating mental framework. For this there are the three levels that are developed in progressive order that we have in the structure of the lam-rim, the graded stages of the path. These are:
- First, to turn away from our main concern being this lifetime and have our main concern be future in lifetimes and then, on the basis of that, continuing to always work for a precious human rebirth in future lifetimes.
- Then to turn our attention from just improving future lives to gaining liberation from compulsively uncontrollably recurring rebirth, or samsara (Skt. saṃsāra).
- Then, on the basis of that, turning away from only being concerned with liberation for ourselves alone and working for the liberation of everybody and their enlightenment.
How to Meditate (continued)
Then Tsongkhapa speaks quite strongly about how we need to develop these mental frameworks, these motivating mental frameworks, in an uncontrived manner (in other words, to have it really sincerely and not just in words). For this we have to meditate on them (build them up) in their proper order, work ourselves up to them in stages. Then he goes into the discussion that we’ve been on in the last two weeks of how to actually do that, how to actually meditate. We started, last week, speaking about the four axioms that are used for thinking about the teachings. Here Tsongkhapa starts to present them in his discussion. The paragraph that we had been discussing last time, just to repeat, was (according to Tsongkhapa’s text):
As for how to meditate, we need to actualize (these motivating mental frameworks) by acquainting ourselves over and again with discerning meditation
That’s what’s often translated as analytical meditation (dpyad-sgom).
itself, with which we meditate by discerning, in many ways, the causes and aspects pertinent for (developing) each of these kinds (of motivations) like this.
The example that we have in our notes is: for instance, by examining many aspects of others’ suffering, we can develop compassion.
This is referring to the axiom of dependency — in another words, what are the causes for developing compassion? What does compassion depend on? Or what does any motivating mental framework depend on? Remember, the motivating mental framework is an aim, what we’re aiming for and then the emotion that drives us there. We have to know the causes for it, what it depends on, and the various aspects — in other words, the different features (when we’re thinking of compassion, the different types of suffering that others have). With compassion, we’re focused on that suffering of others, having built up the causes for that — recognizing everybody as having been our mother, and kindness of mother, etc. — and all of that on the basis of equanimity, having neither attraction or repulsion or indifference to anyone.
Tsongkhapa goes on:
In regard to that, even though cultivating (repeatedly meditating with the proper) focal objects and aspects for these (motivations) is the main cause (for actually developing them), just (to do) this much is not enough. In between sessions, we need to make (our development of them) firm and certain by having looked at the stainless expositions (of Buddha) and the (Indian) treatises, together with the personal instructions, that have been composed around (the themes of) these (motivations).
This is the axiom of reasoning. Right? We need to look at what does a certain state of mind depend on — what do we have to build up in order to reach that state? What are we focusing on, what are all the aspects of that?
The axiom of reasoning is that it has to not contradict scriptural authority, logic or inference, and our bare perception. And so here this is the axiom of reasoning with respect to not contradicting scriptural authority. We need to read various texts that will support this position in order to gain more confidence in it and to gain more certainty. He says here “to make our development of these firmer and more certain” by looking at these expositions.
To review these four axioms — these were, as I said before:
- Dependency (ltos-pa’i rigs-pa). What do we need to develop beforehand in order to actually develop this motivation?
- The second one was functionality (bya-ba byed-pa’i rigs-pa). What is the function of this state of mind? Certain things are compatible with it, and it will support that; other things are destroyed by it or harmed by this state of mind. We have to know all of that.
- Then reason (tshad-ma’i rigs-pa) — I just covered that — that it not to be contradicted by scriptural authority, inference or logic, and bare perception.
- Then the nature of things (chos-nyid-kyi rigs-pa), that it is in accordance with the nature of things. Like everybody wants to be happy and nobody wants to be unhappy, which is the basis for compassion.
That was what we covered last time. Any questions about that? These are the things you have to check, really, as you’re meditating. If you know all of these things, then it becomes much easier to be able to generate a state of mind, not just a motivating framework but any sort of state of mind.
[1] What does it depend on?
If we want to get concentration, it will depend on having the appropriate circumstances: not having a lot of busy work, being in a place where conditions are easy, where there’s no distracting noise and stuff like that. It depends on many, many things. We have to know what it depends on. Obviously to develop concentration, we have to be not terribly distraught by a lot of very neurotic thoughts. That’s very difficult to gain concentration if we’re really very upset, so we have to somehow calm down. Only when we’ve calmed down are we going to be able to get a mind which is focused. Like this, we need to know for compassion, for single-minded concentration, for understanding of voidness, for anything — what does it depend on? What do we have to build up first?
[2] What will it actually do — for this functionality — what will it actually do if we develop this? What is it going to be compatible with? What is it going to support? What is it going to get rid of?
Compassion is going to help us to have empathy for others. That’s part of compassion. It will help us to actually get involved with helping others. What does it overcome? It will help us to overcome selfishness, selfish concern, thinking only of ourselves, and the unhappiness and depression that goes with this sort of self-centered idea of “poor me” etc. When we know these things, that helps us to not only develop this state of mind but also to keep a check as we are developing it to see if it’s really working properly, if it’s functioning properly.
[3] We have to be convinced that this is a correct and beneficial state of mind (that is this axiom of reasoning).
Does it fit with my experience, that with compassion I’m better able to relate to others, etc.? Is it logical that we are all interconnected, and we have to look out for each other, that our welfare is dependent on the welfare of everyone, etc.? Does it fit in with the actual Buddhist teachings, especially about the method? If we see all of this, we’ll become more convinced that this is appropriate and possible, also that it’s possible for me to achieve this. We see other people — direct perception — we see other people who have developed this; we get inspiration from that, and so on.
[4] Does it fit in with the basic nature of things that this is an appropriate state of mind?
These are the four axioms, and with that we can work with these various states of mind.
Building up Positive Force and Purifying Negative Force through the Preliminary Practices
Tsongkhapa goes on:
(In addition,) we must reach the heart (of our problems preventing us from developing them) by doing a great deal of building up (of positive force) and cleansing away (of obstacles) in order to eliminate the contrary factors and bring about conducive conditions for (developing) those motivating mental frameworks.
This is speaking now about a more general level of the axiom of dependency, of what is any state of mind, positive state of mind, that we want to develop — what is it going to depend on? The most fundamental thing that it depends on is building up a tremendous amount of positive force and eliminating negative force or obstacles.
This is what is covered in what’s usually referred to as the preliminary practices or preparation practices, ngondro (sngon-’gro). In Tibetan, ngondro literally means “what comes before.” These are very, very important, and it is really essential not to underestimate them or trivialize these preliminary practices or preparation practices. Preliminary — people sometimes get a weird impression that you could do without preliminary things, but if you think of it more in terms of preparation: well, you have to be prepared.
We need a lot of positive force (bsod-nams). That’s usually translated as merit, but I don’t like this word merit, because it sounds like goody points or something like that. We’re not talking about collecting points, or anything like that, from being a good boy or girl. We’re talking about building up, like a charge on a rechargeable battery — you need to build up a certain amount of strong charge or energy that is going to overcome the negative forces that would draw us down, overcome inertia, or whatever it be. Inertia would be laziness, in the case of ourselves, that would prevent us from doing things.
This positive force and cleansing of negative potential is done in many, many ways. There are standard ways in which it is done; there are more individual ways that it can be done. A lot of that will depend on individuals and whether or not we are personally guided by a spiritual teacher. A spiritual teacher can customize these preliminary practices for us. They don’t have to follow the standard list, but most people do follow the standard list, and most teachers advise the standard list. The standard list has a shorter version, a longer version. These consist of various practices that are normally repeated a hundred thousand times. But a hundred thousand (’bum) doesn’t have to be a specific number. When we read of The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa (mi-la mgur-’bum), in that case the word hundred thousand just means “a lot”; it’s not actually, if you count them, a hundred thousand — actually it’s less than a hundred thousand in the case of the Songs of Milarepa — but it is a word that is used in Tibetan to mean “a lot.” We can either count a hundred thousand of, let’s say, prostrations or we can just do a lot of them.
There are advantages and disadvantages to counting. If we think of somebody who has very low self-esteem, has never really accomplished very much in their life and doesn’t have confidence that they can accomplish very much, then if they do a hundred thousand of something and they keep count, then at the end they could get the feeling that “Hey, I am actually able to do something. It’s not so horrible, not so unattainable. I thought before doing a hundred thousand is impossible — how can I possibly do a hundred thousand of anything, let alone a million of something?” But once you’ve done that, then you have confidence that “OK. Well then, maybe I can do more things” — like, for instance, build up positive force for three zillion eons to reach enlightenment, as instructed in the teachings, the sutra teachings.
See, this is the point — not get discouraged by these large numbers and the large amount of effort that needs to go into particularly a Mahayana (Skt. Mahāyāna) path. You think of helping absolutely everybody, countless beings. How do you get the confidence, the self-confidence, that you can do that? By counting — by doing something which, in the first place, seemed impossible to do. I think with this you get an idea of what it means to overcome an obstacle, a mental block, and build up some positive force that would enable you to make better progress. It’s actually a very clever way, whether you actually believe in positive force or not.
Participant: The point is it’s a psychological factor? Because I can’t understand the point of this really creating positive force only because of the prostrations.
Dr. Berzin: So, you are saying: Is this just psychological? I can’t really believe that this builds up positive force.
For it to build up positive force, of course it has to have proper motivation. To just do a hundred thousand pushups in the gym would not be the same. Would not be the same. It has to be dedicated to a spiritual goal and so on. Can you separate psychological from… from what? Well, you could speak like this. I think there is a psychological factor. I think it can be explained that way. Does it actually build up a force?
Participant: This is more a superstitious thing.
Prostration
Dr. Berzin: Is it a superstitious thing? I don’t really think so. I mean, there could be a superstitious aspect to it. But the point is…. We haven’t gone into the specifics of what the practices are, but let’s take prostration. Prostration is very, very helpful for overcoming arrogance and pride. Again, it’s psychological. But these are mental blocks. What are mental blocks? They are disturbing emotions — these are mental blocks — and the negative force that that builds up. Negative and positive, these are just ways of… How do you translate these things? Certainly better than merit and sin. But from one explanation, it is some sort of force; it has some sort of physical aspect to it. From another explanation, it’s more abstract but a potential, positive potential or negative potential. That’s another way of translating this.
With prostrations, it helps you to overcome arrogance and pride (“I’m not going to bow down to anything,” this sort of attitude). It helps you to develop respect, which is very important. It helps you to develop perseverance, patience, discipline, all these sorts of things. It helps to develop good qualities. Also, it is very helpful for grounding you if you’re a very spaced-out person. You actually go down on the ground, and so that has a definite effect on somebody, to be close to the ground like that and to do a lot of this physical activity. And when one does it and has done it, it does bring about a psychological change, and that’s what it’s supposed to do.
Do you explain it as only psychological? It depends on… It affects the mind. If you want to use psychological as a word to put that whole process down, that’s a judgment. Is it mystical and magical? No, certainly not, that if you’ve done… This is what I was saying with the numbers. The numbers are not the important thing. If it’s somebody with low self-esteem and no sense of self-confidence, the numbers are helpful. That’s one aspect. For someone who is already arrogant, the numbers are not helpful, and especially if they’re into competition and “I’ve done a hundred thousand, and what about you? How many have you done?” and you get obsessed with the numbers and your counting, you might as well count to a hundred thousand. I mean, what’s the difference? For such a person, counting is not beneficial at all. The point is to just do it.
One does these things basically until you receive certain signs that purification is taking place. These signs usually occur in dreams: dreams of spiritual teachers, temples, and walking uphill. For purification: of vomiting, getting teeth pulled out, these negative things coming out of you, having diarrhea, etc. There are many such indications in dreams that something is actually happening.
All I can say is that it seems to be effective, seems to be — from my own experience and the experience of many of my friends who have done these sort of things — has an effect, definitely has an effect. But it is very important that it be done with the right attitude and the right motivation, dedication, etc., and not just doing prostrations as a method for losing weight.
There’s offering of prostration. That is purification, basically.
Reciting the Vajrasattva Mantra
Then the second type of purification that’s usually done is the repetition of the hundred-syllable mantra of Vajrasattva. Vajrasattva represents the purification of the mind — it’s a Buddha-figure — or the basic purity of the mind that’s involved in purification. There’s an elaborate visualization and a mantra that you repeat, a whole ritual that is done with this, and you imagine negative things leaving you.
You have to apply the four opponent forces. Which starts of course with number zero, before the four, which is openly admitting… you go through the negative things that you’ve done. We can think in terms of the negative physical acts that I’ve done in terms of killing, even in terms of killing insects and so on, and physically harming others, hitting others, being physically unkind to others, stealing, inappropriate sexual behavior, whatever. One doesn’t have to be so strict in terms of the list of things, but you review: What have I actually done in my life? The same thing with verbal things of lying, deceiving others, cheating, verbally abusing others, causing discord by saying nasty things about others and so on, and idle chatter, interrupting others with talking about absolutely nothing, this type of thing, wasting time by constantly chattering, etc. Then negative ways of thinking in terms of plotting how can I get what other people have, in a very intense state of mind of jealousy and competition and plotting how can I hurt others and take revenge, and plotting how I can put down other people for the positive things that they’re doing, these sorts of negative ways of thinking. We review: What have I actually done in my lifetime?
Also, from the teachings on karma, we can look at what are the results of these various types of karmic actions. For instance, if our friendships never last, or if we’re constantly… people are leaving us, we have to leave our home, we have to leave our friends or they leave us, our relationships break up, and so on — well, what’s the karmic cause of that? The karmic cause of that is saying nasty things about other people to their friends, which causes them to split. That again gives us some indication — well, maybe not in this lifetime, although usually there’ll be traces of that in this lifetime. But if we’re experiencing the effects of these karmic actions, then also openly admit that. Don’t be self-deceiving; be honest with ourselves.
We openly admit “OK, I’ve acted in destructive ways. I’ve made mistakes.” These are mistaken types of behavior. It’s very important to identify it as mistaken rather than bad. There’s no value judgment. “This was unfortunate, that I did that, that I acted like that.”
Then we apply the opponent powers, which are:
[1] Regret.
Regret is not the same as guilt. Guilt is a strong identification of a big me who is so bad for what I’ve done, and put a big, strong line around what I’ve done, identify it as a solid thing — as so bad, so horrible — and then not letting go: “This was so bad. I’m so bad,” and you never let go. That’s guilt. The point is to throw the garbage out. Don’t make such a big deal about it. “I regret it.” Regret is that “I really wish that that hadn’t happened. It’s not that I’m bad because of that. I wish that hadn’t happened.” Like eating something that made us sick: you don’t feel guilty about that; I just regret that I ate that.
[2] Then we promise — although promise is a bit of a strong word here — to try our best not to repeat this.
You can’t say, “I’m never going to get angry again.” I mean, these are the things that we openly admit: “I’ve gotten angry. I’ve yelled at people,” etc., “I’ve clung to them and been obsessive,” etc., or I’ve been whatever. We try our best not to repeat that.
[3] Then we reaffirm a positive direction that we’re going in life.
This is refuge. “I’m going in a positive direction in my life, safe direction, of working on myself the way the Buddhas have done, etc., to get rid of my disturbing emotions and to realize all the good qualities that are possible.” We reaffirm that.
[4] Then do some positive things to counteract the negative force.
With that, then, any positive thing that you do is very worthwhile — this is a purification type of practice — but what’s specifically done is this Vajrasattva practice. You repeat this mantra; and while you repeat the mantra, you imagine basically a purification taking place. You imagine negative things from your negative actions of body leaving you in some physical form, and there’s a lot of variation with that: we imagine lights and liquid, nectars, coming and filling you, and these negative things leaving you (in terms of all sorts of horrible substances), and then all the negative verbal things coming out and the mental things getting zapped, etc. You imagine literally, in a very graphic form, purification taking place. This is like flushing the toilet or throwing the garbage out. You actually imagine purification taking place. Is it a psychological thing? Is it a brainwashing thing? Perhaps. But it’s effective. It’s very effective in helping to let go of these negative things.
“OK, I’m really going to try my best not to repeat this. It was mistaken. I regret it very much. And so, finished.” This type of thing. So, we do Vajrasattva. That’s done a hundred thousand times, but it can be done a lot more than a hundred thousand.
With these preliminaries also it’s important to realize that it’s not that once I’ve done it, then “That’s it. I never have to continue this again.” Because in any tantric practice, all these preliminaries are part of your daily practice anyway. It’s something which is sustained as part of one’s daily practice, and it’s very good as part of one’s daily practice.
Mandala Offering
Then there is mandala (Skt. maṇḍala) offering. Mandala offering is — like we make an offering of a mandala at the beginning of the class — this is an offering of the universe. I want to give everything, so symbolically we imagine giving the universe to others and to being able to help others. It’s not just that I’m giving my city or things like that, but I’m giving my body (which means my physical energy; we’re going to help others), I give my time (for many of us this is the most important thing to be able to give), I give my talents, I give anything and everything that I have for others and for reaching enlightenment. This is the mandala offering, and then you do that, and there’s a certain verse that you repeat a hundred thousand times.
Guru-yoga
Then there is what’s called guru-yoga, and guru-yoga is basically imagining the spiritual teacher (one’s own or a lineage founder or Buddha Shakyamuni himself) and thinking of the good qualities of body, speech, and mind (so the physical qualities, the verbal communication qualities, and the mental, emotional, intellectual qualities) and imagining inspiration coming from the teacher to us (as we repeat either the guru’s mantra of his name or a certain verse, etc.) and that our qualities become one with that of the teacher.
This is very important — we’ll get to this a little bit later, perhaps today, in class — in terms of bodhichitta (Skt. bodhicitta). We’re focusing on good qualities. Good qualities taken to the extreme are Buddha qualities, to their fullest level, and we want to be able to focus on that and merge our qualities with that. This builds up a lot of positive force to gain more and more confidence, more inspiration, more strength. Offering everything to be able to help others — that also builds up a lot of positive force. Then, in real life — not that meditation is not real life, but in the subsequent periods, post-meditation periods, we actually do offer ourselves to others, we actually do feel inspiration of the qualities of the spiritual teacher, and so on. This is very helpful. “My teacher has confidence. I have confidence.” These types of things.
We have these preliminary practices, and there are many others that are done; these are the four standard ones. There’s also an offering of water bowls. There’re many other types of… There’s another — Vajradaka it’s called, a type of fire offering where you offer sesame seeds into a fire. That’s another type of purification. There are many, many practices which can be done.
Also, as I said, one’s teacher can instruct a special type of preliminary practice. For instance, do six hundred thousand of Chenrezig for emphasizing compassion and six hundred thousand of the mantras of Manjushri (Skt. Mañjuśrī) for clarity of mind, these types of things. For instance, I was told to do that as part of my preliminary practices. I remember I always used to look at all the work that I did for Serkong Rinpoche of writing letters for him and running around getting visas so that he could travel around to various countries — that these also were my preliminary practices to build up some positive force. “By helping to make him available as a teacher to others, may I be able to likewise become a teacher and help others.”
These types of thoughts are very important for building up positive force, confidence — I think positive force is quite descriptive here, positive potential (it is a type of energy) — and that’s very important. We need to build up character and these character traits and work on our personality. This is what it’s all about. It’s not just learning something in a class and passing a test by being able to regurgitate information. That’s not the point it lists. The point is really to bring about a personal transformation for the positive in the direction of lessening, and eventually getting rid of, our disturbing emotions and getting rid of our selfishness and developing more and more qualities to help others. That’s looked at as something which is very beneficial.
These are the preliminary practices, and this is what Tsongkhapa’s referring to here when he says, “In addition, we must reach the heart…” All he says is the heart here, but actually you have to fill in: the heart of our problems preventing us from developing these motivations. That’s what he means by the heart of the matter. What is the meaning of heart? Heart (snying) is actually — the Tibetan word here is the essential core point, the heart of the matter, where its life-force… the absolute center of any side of spiritual successes. And what is that? That’s this positive force and getting rid of the negative force, the negative potential. And “we must reach the heart by doing a great deal of building up of positive force and cleansing away of obstacles.” Why? “In order to eliminate the contrary factors and bring about conducive conditions for developing these motivating mental frameworks.” When we are experiencing mental blocks, what is the thing to do? The thing is to do some sort of positive practice.
You can’t understand something. Repeating, let’s say, the Manjushri mantra for five, ten minutes to gain clarity of mind — like we do in the beginning of the class — and try to gain this confidence of “My mind is clear. I am able to understand.” Psychological trick? Sure, but why not? Seems to have an effect. When I was in Dharamsala (Skt. Dharamśālā), I always looked on these long teaching trips that I took as a bodhichitta retreat of actually going around and working to try to teach and help people and that that would enable me to do better translations and better writing and stuff like that. Everything depends on one’s attitude, how you look at things.
Going to university — what is that? That’s preparation. It’s a preparatory practice. “I’m building up the skills that will enable me to be able to work to benefit others.” Presumably if we’re studying something, it’s something that we can use to help others, whether it is science, whether it is Asian languages and philosophy, whatever it might be. We develop discipline. We develop perseverance, concentration, all these sorts of things. It’s a preparation.
It’s important how we look at what we’re doing. Whatever type of job we’re doing, even though it might seem trivial and boring, if we look at it in certain ways — well, what is it developing? I’m a clerk and I put numbers into the computer. Well, it develops concentration, doesn’t it? You have to concentrate. “I’m trying to improve myself. This is for somebody’s benefit.” Benefiting others. Everything depends on the attitude, how we look at things. This is a deeper level of the axiom of dependency, of what is this motivating mental framework that I want to develop? What does it depend on?
How to Meditate on Compassion and Bodhichitta
Then Tsongkhapa goes on. He says:
When we have made, like that, the causal factors (for developing these motivations) be complete in their defining characteristics and not just partial,
He says you have to have all the causes together.
(then to actually develop them) we need (first) to discern well, with individualizing discriminating awareness and in detail, what is detrimental and what is beneficial (for developing them) and then to meditate.
This is a little bit more detail about the axiom of dependency. Individualizing discriminating awareness (sor-rtog ye-shes). Discriminating awareness adds certainty to what it is and what it isn’t, to distinguishing this thing: it’s this and not that. And discriminating awareness: “I’m really quite certain of that.” Discriminate. So, individualizing here: What is detrimental to developing this state of mind? What is beneficial for it — what will help?
Well, to develop compassion, what helps and what is a hindrance to that? Well, a hindrance to that is of course attachment — attraction to some and repulsion from others and ignoring others. If we ignore people, how do you develop compassion? If you are attached to them, then if we actually do help them — very nice. But if we’re not successful, or if they don’t take our advice, then we get very angry with them because we’re very attached. And then “I want to help just you, so I’ll ignore everybody else,” this type of thing. Or we’re doing it just so that they’ll like us, and so we’re not really thinking of what’s beneficial for them. We’re thinking, in the end, “How can I help them in a way that’ll be beneficial for me?” To help somebody, the greatest help might be to leave them alone and let them learn by themselves. Well, if we’re attached to somebody, that’s very difficult to do. Or repulsion: If we’re repelled from somebody, we certainly don’t want to help them. We don’t care about the fact that they are suffering and unhappy. In fact, we’re happy that they’re unhappy. This is detrimental.
Individualizing. We have to know, for each of these motivations, what is beneficial, what is detrimental. This is again the factor of dependency.
Any questions about that, by the way, or comments?
Tsongkhapa goes on:
When we have done that, we will then understand deeply that by (meditating over and again), having made our focal object be such and such, the aspects be such and such, and the way of taking them to mind be such and such, we will develop on our mental continuums such and such an uncommon imprint. In doing this, we will thereby come to gain confidence in (our ability to actualize) even the subtlest points of these practices.
OK. This is even in more detail. What do we need to know in order to actually meditate? (Meditate means to build up something as a positive state of mind.) We have to know what the focal object is — what are we focusing on when we try to develop this motivation? What are the aspects (in other words, what are all the details of it)? What is the way of taking them to mind? We have already ascertained what the causes are, what you have to have before that. What is the way of taking them to mind?
Compassion. What’s the focal object of compassion? Anybody? What’s the focal object? What do you focus on when you try to develop compassion?
Participant: Suffering of others.
Dr. Berzin: Suffering of others. What appears in your mind when you’re trying to develop compassion?
Participant: A suffering person.
Dr. Berzin: Suffering beings. Well, how do we do this? That’s a difficult question, isn’t it? Do you think of just one person? Then isn’t there the danger that we are not thinking of all beings — it’s not great compassion (snying-rje chen-po) — and usually we would choose one person that we have some sort of connection with. How do you do this?
This is a very interesting question because they tell you there are two methods. One is the method that you find in Theravada (Skt. Theravāda) practice. Start with yourself — this is indicated even in the lojong (blo-sbyong), the attitude training teachings — you start with yourself (“May I be happy. May I be free from my suffering.”), then you extend it to your mother, your father, your friends, relatives, and then you extend it further: people in my family, people in my neighborhood, people in my city, people in my country, etc., those that I like, and those that I’m indifferent to, that I don’t know, strangers, and then even to my enemies, people I don’t like. You extend it out, starting with small, working usually with the ones that we like.
Now, the problem with that is that it encourages working just with the people that we like and not going very much further than that. Like in terms of generosity: it’s quite easy to be generous with somebody that we really love, especially if we’re attached to them and attracted, because usually there’s an underlying motivation that we want them to like us in return; we want to make them happy for some reason. There is a benefit, that it actually gets us to be generous at all (if we’re not generous) — at least I can give to this person more easily — and then we start to expand it. That’s a benefit. The disadvantage is of course it’s connected with attachment; it’s hard to have equanimity.
The Mahayana way is to think of everybody in terms of that. What’s the disadvantage of that? The disadvantage or the difficulty with that is when you start thinking of all sentient beings, it becomes so vague that it becomes meaningless. Or we think of the six realms — all the hell creatures, all the ghosts, all the animals, all the humans — and it is so unstructured and vague that there’s no emotional feeling at all. That was why in the sensitivity training that I developed, I said to start with the people around you in the room, with real people, so it actually has some emotional quality to it, and then pictures of others — people that you know, people that you don’t know (from a magazine, whatever) — so it becomes a little bit easier.
But His Holiness has said that it is good to start with much larger groups, because what you have to do is start with equanimity. This is what it says in his instructions, isn’t it? First step: equanimity, everybody equal (no attraction, no repulsion, no indifference). Then on that basis, perhaps one could start in a smaller sense. I don’t know. It’s a very delicate thing. The guideline that I’m taking for this is what Tsongkhapa says later in the text in terms of how you visualize one of these Buddha-figures. He says, “To visualize a Buddha-figure, whether it’s yourself in this form or in front of you, you visualize the whole thing at once to start with. You get the whole picture, even though it might be fuzzy. Then you start filling in the details one by one.” I think the same principle can hold here, that we need to… Because it’s very easy to skip this step of equanimity, because basically it’s one of the most difficult steps. To actually expand your mind out to think of absolutely everybody, with no attraction, no repulsion, no indifference? That’s unbelievably enormous, and so it’s very easy to just skip over that and start with my friends — and I love them, and I want them to be happy and not to be unhappy, and so on — isn’t it? For it to really be Mahayana, we really have to take the advice in the texts. The texts — every one of them says, “Start with equanimity. Spread it out to everybody.” Then we can work on a more limited scale of filling in, larger and larger. This I think has to be the method.
What are we focusing on? What’s the focal object (to get back to our focal object)? Is it a… I mean, it could be a whole crowd, not just one being. This is something we have to investigate. Don’t just limit it to one. Within the large crowd — then focus on this one, that one, etc. We try to keep the perspective of Mahayana. I think this is the important thing. That is the focal object.
What are the aspects of compassion? The aspects would be all the different kinds of suffering that all these beings have, wouldn’t it? Those would be the aspects.
What is the way of taking it to mind for compassion? Anybody? How’s your mind relating to this? How is it taking it as an object? What are the mental factors that are with it?
Participant: One can’t bear it.
Dr. Berzin: One can’t bear it. That’s one thing. But the main thing is the wish for them to be parted — that’s the definition of compassion — the wish for them to be parted from their suffering. Why? Because it’s so horrible. That’s why he uses the word the defining characteristics:
When we have made, like that, the causal factors (for developing these motivations) be complete in their defining characteristics and not just partial…
Defining characteristics refers to all these things. You have to know what the defining characteristic of each of these states of mind that we’re trying to develop. Otherwise, it’s just too vague. In other words, meditation needs to be a very precise process, so that you know exactly what you’re doing. Not just vague — sit down there and space out.
This is the state of mind that I want. I’m focusing on a mass of beings and their suffering, and I’m aware of many, many different aspects of the suffering, and there is this strong wish that they be parted from it. Now, is there anything else in compassion? There’s love, the wish for them to be happy. It’s not just to be parted from the suffering. There’s also love, the wish for them to be happy. That’s there. All the causal factors of what it’s dependent on. It’s not that you forget these causal factors — it’s built up on top of that. The feeling of (depending on how we develop this compassion):
- everybody wants to be happy; nobody wants to be unhappy, we’re all equal, etc., or
- everybody has been kind to me, either directly or indirectly — we’re all interrelated — and I appreciate that, and I have this heartwarming feeling of connectedness with even the cockroach (understanding of rebirth: they’re mental continuums, just in this particular lifetime they’re in this particular life form).
Also, with compassion there is a certain sense of responsibility and courage and strength — His Holiness always says that there’s a great deal of strength in compassion — that I’m actually going to try to do something about it (the exceptional resolve), which is the next step in the sequence for developing bodhichitta, is that I’m going to take the responsibility to help bring them to liberation and enlightenment. That’s an exceptional sense of responsibility. With compassion there’s already a sense of responsibility. It’s not just “Oh, I wish somebody else would help them, poor things” and you go “Tut, tut, what a shame.” It’s not like that. If there’s a sense of responsibility, there’s also a sense of strength, of self-confidence.
This His Holiness speaks about a great deal. He says, “Why does compassion…” Compassion. You’re thinking of suffering. If you’re thinking of the suffering of others — wouldn’t that make you depressed, that I’m going to take on this suffering? His Holiness says no, that’s not the case. If you’re just thinking about yourself and your own suffering, then it’s overwhelming; then you get depressed: “My own unhappiness. Poor me,” etc. You have no choice. This suffering is on you. It’s there. “I’ve lost my job” or “My loved one left me” or “My loved one died” — or whatever it was — “Poor me.” With compassion you voluntarily take on responsibility to deal with the sufferings of others, and because you voluntarily do that, that is a sign of strength. Because there has to be some sort of confidence that’s there. Otherwise, how can I take any responsibility to help others? Compassion is a sign of strength and gives you strength to think of others, working for others. His Holiness says this all the time whenever he speaks about compassion.
This is important, to try to not only understand that but to realize that that’s true. How do you realize that it’s true? Our axiom of reasoning. According to scripture? Yes, it agrees with that, with all the Buddhist texts. Does it make logical sense? Well, yes, if I think about it. Does it make sense from my experience, from direct perception? Try it out. You see: does it give you more confidence, more strength? “I’m going to work for others, whatever that work may be.” “I’m going to be a volunteer in a hospital.” Whatever it might be — baby-sit, anything. “I will voluntarily take on dealing with a problem.” This is there as well. There’s a certain sense of self-confidence and it builds strength. This is this factor of: How does it function? What does it build up? What does it overcome? It overcomes the feeling of “poor me” when you’re thinking of others, and instead of making us more depressed…
What makes you depressed is a feeling of helplessness and then not doing anything in the face of others’ suffering. That could make you depressed. But if you’re actually working — you could be frustrated, but that’s having too high an expectation; that’s not being realistic. It’s unrealistic to expect that I am like God and the total cause and effect depends on me: whether this person actually overcomes their suffering or not is totally dependent only on what I do and absolutely not on any other causal factor. This is absurd, totally absurd. Therefore, if the person actually is benefited, it’s not just because of what I did, so there’s no reason to be proud (although one can rejoice of course, be happy about it). And if it fails, it’s not my fault, because there are so many other causal factors. This person doesn’t exist in a vacuum. These are important things to… What will support — another axiom — what will support proper compassion? All these things are there.
What about bodhichitta? This is the difficult one. What is bodhichitta? How do you meditate on bodhichitta? It’s certainly not compassion. Compassion is a support of it. Not the same as compassion. What is the focal object of bodhichitta? If you’re going to meditate on bodhichitta, what are you going to meditate on? How do you do it?
Participant: We are trying to reach enlightenment for the benefit of others.
Dr. Berzin: The object is the future enlightenment in general or Buddha’s enlightenment?
Participant: My own one.
Dr. Berzin: My own individual, future — well, what does future enlightenment mean, and how in the world do you focus on that?
Participant: You just focus on the not-yet-happening future enlightenment.
Dr. Berzin: You focus on the not-yet-happening enlightenment. My individual enlightenment, which has not yet happened, but it can happen. How do you focus on that? This is the real question. Without knowing all these factors that Tsongkhapa points out, then what in the world do you do when you’re meditating on bodhichitta? You have no idea what in the world to do, because you don’t know what that state of mind is. Unfortunately, it’s very, very complicated.
Our own future enlightenment — I don’t know if we can get through all of this this time (may have to carry this over to next class) — what actually is appearing? You have to have some mental aspect. What’s appearing in your mind when you’re meditating on bodhichitta? Something has to appear. It’s not all suffering sentient beings; that’s not my enlightenment which has not yet happened.
Participant: But there’s these two bodhichittas.
Dr. Berzin: There’s two bodhichittas, that’s right. There is the one which is striving for enlightenment in order to be able benefit others, and then there’s the deepest bodhichitta, which is equivalent to meditating on voidness. We’re talking about the relative bodhichitta, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of others. And of course, there are two stages — the aspiring (that “I’m going to achieve it.”) and the engaging (“I’m actually going to engage myself.”) — but just speaking for the aspiring first. OK?
First of all, we have to realize what does enlightenment mean. Here we have to go back to the defining characteristics of refuge: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. What we’re talking about here are the third and fourth noble truths on our mental continuum. That is the true stopping of all the disturbing emotions and obscurations, that state of it being stopped, parted from it, which is its basic nature, but it’s not yet happened; the actual parting itself has not yet happened. And fourth noble truth, which is the realization of all the qualities — the pathway mind — all the qualities of mind that will bring about this stopping and that are the result of this stopping, but they’re not yet realized; they’re not yet in their fullest form. This is where Buddha-nature comes in. Two aspects of Buddha-nature: the abiding Buddha-nature (rang-bzhin gnas-rigs) is the voidness of the mind, and the potentials of the mind (rgyas-’gyur-gyi rigs, evolving family-traits) are the ones that will transform into the mind of a Buddha, the qualities of the mind of a Buddha. And then of course there’s the body as well, which is an aspect of it (which gets into the thing of aspect).
What actually appears in our mind when we focus on bodhichitta? What appears are the five aggregates, the aggregate factors. You’re sitting there, and you’re looking at the wall or whatever — mental consciousness — and whatever is in front of us, and so on. Now, there’s that, but then also there would be an imaginary form that represents the enlightened state which is not yet happening. You have a visualization of a Buddha or a Buddha-figure or, in guru-yoga, the guru — something that represents the enlightened state that I have not yet achieved. The way of taking it of course is that “I want to achieve that.” The intention is to actualize what that represents and benefit everybody by means of that, because there’s also love and compassion, etc., as the basis for all of this. OK? This is a simple, basic, level-one explanation.
Now, what about love and compassion? Do you have it at the same time? Yes, you do, but you’re not so mindful of it. It’s like you can look at somebody — see somebody — and hear them talk at the same time and have a visualization of the person at the same time as well. We can have many different things simultaneously. You can even have single-pointed concentration on one thing while other things are also being perceived. There’s no flightiness of mind. I’m focusing, let’s say, single-pointedly on seeing you. That doesn’t mean that I don’t see the wall around you, and that doesn’t mean that I don’t hear the bell ring or something like that. I do, but I’m not distracted by it. There’s no flightiness of mind. My mind isn’t dull. I’m focused. The other things are happening; they’re sort of in the background.
Love and compassion are in the background, but it’s not that you are focusing — you’re not mindful. Not mindful means your mental hold on it… The attention — it’s more the attention, I’m sorry — the attention is not there. It’s not that you are, at the same time, visualizing all beings and “May they be parted from their suffering” and focusing on their suffering, but it’s somehow there in the background. Otherwise, if it’s not, then aiming for enlightenment can become a very selfish thing: “I want the best.” You’re not thinking of others at all.
It has to have these two intentions. One is to achieve that enlightenment, and the other is to benefit everybody by means of that. This is why in tantra you visualize actually lights and things going out from you and benefiting others while you’re focusing on a Buddha, which is representing the enlightened state, my individual enlightened state, that has not yet happened. OK?
Now, this is probably enough for today. I think we can go into the next, deeper level of bodhichitta, and what actually is going on in your mind when you focus on bodhichitta, next time. But what has to be here is this confidence that I can actually achieve this state. Otherwise, it’s just wishful thinking; it’s silly. That is based on Buddha-nature. Buddha-nature — these Buddha-nature factors are going to be here as well, but that gets into a much more complicated level of explanation which is best to leave till next time. But in general, all that’s happening in any moment are your five aggregates, five aggregate factors of your experience:
- what type of consciousness,
- the object,
- the feeling of some level of happy or unhappy,
- distinguishing, within the field of thought or vision, one thing from the background, and
- the emotional factors and other mental factors that accompany it: concentration, compassion, etc., intention.
That’s all that’s happening. Among those objects can be imaginary forms. We want something that represents our enlightened state. You could just do a mahamudra (Skt. mahāmudrā) meditation and focus on the purity of the mind. That’s much more difficult. Easier is to imagine a Buddha, visualize a Buddha or a Buddha-figure — Tara (Skt. Tārā), Chenrezig, whatever — to represent the enlightenment. Guru-yoga works this way. You’re focusing on the guru. That represents this enlightened state because we’re thinking of their qualities. What are the aspects? Tsongkhapa says “Know the aspects,” so be aware of the aspects. You don’t have to list them in your head. You’re aware of all the qualities of a Buddha — there’s a whole big list of them — qualities of body, speech, and mind. We’re aware of these aspects. Because when you focus on the guru, you focus on the good qualities.
Participant: Sometimes it’s difficult to practice with helping others. You can spend a lot of time, but I think very often the others have to change in order to be helped; you can’t change it for them. Sometimes even if you give material help, the people spoil it anyhow: they spend it on drink or drugs or something. Or you’re explaining a situation and helping and trying to make the situation clear, that it can change, but then they don’t change. Very often it’s a bit frustrating. How do you deal with that?
Dr. Berzin: Marianna’s pointing out that it’s very frustrating trying to help others, because often we don’t know how to help them, they don’t take our advice, they’re not helped. We give them things, give them money, and instead of it helping them, they use it to buy more alcohol or drugs. Or you give them advice, and they don’t understand. You try to explain, and they don’t understand, or they don’t do what we suggest, etc. And it’s very frustrating.
That’s true. This is why part of that aspiration — it’s not just to “May I overcome my disturbing emotions,” these emotional obscurations: my getting angry with them and my being impatient and my being attached and clinging and so on, my selfishness. Not only do I have to overcome these emotional obscurations, I have to overcome the cognitive ones as well so that I know what is the best thing to do to help them. That’s our problem. We don’t know what to do to help them. For that you have to become a Buddha, to really know what the full cause and effect aspect is. “If I do this, what’s the effect going to be? If I do that, what is the effect going to be?”
Then the question is: What do we do now in this situation? Well, you try your best. You have to evaluate… This comes down to very basic questions. We are willing to help everybody. That willingness is there. But we have to judge — discriminate — ourselves who is the most receptive to our help. And if we are not Buddhas… I mean, in your visualization in your tantric practice, you imagine helping absolutely everybody. But in actual daily life we can only help those people that are going to be the most receptive to our help and open to our help. That you have to see. “If I try to help this person who’s totally close-minded to me and I feel no connection with, then it’s a waste of time. In fact, they might even get angry that I’m trying to help.” We have to use our judgment with that. And then use discriminating awareness. Ask and so on. Don’t have such great expectations.
Maybe the greatest help is to inspire others by our example. Or there is unaimed (dmigs-med) compassion. I must say it’s not so easy to find methods for this, but unaimed compassion — this is what I try to do with my website — it’s not aimed at this person or that person; you just make it available to everybody. Anybody who wants to benefit can benefit. It’s not aimed at anybody, not thinking of this person or that person (but you have to be careful that doesn’t become so vague that it doesn’t have any emotional feeling to it). Like people who build temples or build stupas (these relic monuments) or make Dharma books or help in a center, a Buddhist center, or whatever — something that would be available for anybody. And don’t have great expectations. We’re not a Buddha yet.
Bear in mind what happens — it’s hard to explain this very well (except getting into a sort of odd explanation) — but the more strongly you try to do something positive, the more obstacles come up. Now, you could explain this in terms of demons. You could explain this in terms of Mara, the prototypical demon that challenges Buddha while he’s trying to become enlightened. Or you can do a Jungian explanation, that the shadow… The more you try to do positive things: if you don’t apply voidness fully to the self, then what you’re doing in pushing and promoting the positive is you’re putting down the negative without negating the self, and so that negative, the shadow side, is going to come up very strongly in protest in other areas. This is a Jungian analysis of this whole protector business, that “I’m trying so much to do virtue and to be so good and blah blah blah” in a very sort of moralistic type of way, and this ferocious protector, which is my shadow side — “Destroy all the enemies and all the negative forces” — and you get all this shadow energy over there. It can be done with an understanding of voidness, but it could very easily be done without an understanding of voidness, so you get very sectarian and this holy, holy thing and “We’re going to burn everybody who’s against us,” this type of phenomenon. It can happen in Buddhism as well.
You have to be careful when trying to help others that we don’t get into this holy, holy trip either. And don’t have expectations. Since we haven’t overcome our ego, then it will happen -- when you’re trying to do positive things, obstacles come up. You can look at it in many ways: that the negative potential has to be burned off in order for the positive potential, the positive force, to outshine it when I’m not able yet to totally purify away all the negative force. There are many things. But one has to expect obstacles. Then there are all the lojong (attitude training) ways of dealing with that, which is to rejoice that the obstacles are there, see it as a demon, feed the demon (“Take more.”), and so on. Rather than fighting it, change your whole attitude toward the obstacles, towards the troubles that come up.
Participant: I think the problem is also that one really wants to help, and one sees the other’s suffering, but it’s not possible, and so this person doesn’t get better. So, for them it’s a pity.
Dr. Berzin: Well, yes. We want to help, but we’re not capable of helping, and it’s very frustrating. That’s true. But that should motivate us to work even harder to become a Buddha. Even as a Buddha — a Buddha can’t eliminate everybody’s suffering. A Buddha can only inspire and show the way. We’re not able to go and lay hands on the person and take away their cancer, so all you can try to do is give comfort. Help with what is realistic. You have to be realistic. How can I help this person who’s dying? Try to help them to gain a little bit of peace of mind to overcome fear or whatever it might be. Is it sad? Yes, it’s sad. But also, in trying to help, it gives strength, so it’s not depressing.
It’s a very delicate type of thing, very delicate. One has to get into a whole other level, which I haven’t discussed — you get into this in our sensitivity training — of not being afraid of the unhappiness and the sadness in doing the tonglen (gtong-len), taking on the suffering of others, but let that sadness be like a wave of feeling that settles down in the pure nature of the mind. Then if you’re able to relax enough with that, then the natural warmth and happiness of the mind will be able to emerge. This is a very delicate thing. How do you actually take on the suffering of others and give them happiness when it’s so horrible what they’re experiencing? Where do you generate that happiness from to give to them? It’s not that somebody is lying there in terrible pain and we’re smiling and laughing — we’re so happy — and give our happiness to them, but it’s a matter of peace of mind that we have, that we’re not disturbed by it. When you’re dealing with somebody with Alzheimer’s or whatever, we’re not depressed, and we’re not indifferent either. Then you have to bring in all these mahamudra and lojong teachings about feelings and the nature of feelings and the mind.
In order to really work with bodhichitta and helping others and so on, there are so many different tools that one has to bring in. It’s not such a simple matter. This is what I think you’re pointing out. It’s not such a simple manner, and it can be frustrating, but there are methods to work with it. But we have to be very realistic and understand cause and effect — that their suffering is based on a tremendous number of causes, so I can just add a few more causes that are going to affect it. OK?
Anyway, let’s end here, and next time we’ll go deeper into how you actually meditate on bodhichitta. And, as I said, I find this text by Tsongkhapa is just so fantastic in giving the hints of what are the little pieces that we need to know in order to actually meditate and not just sit there and not know what in the world we’re supposed to do.
OK. Let’s end with the dedication. We think whatever positive force has come from this, and whatever understanding, may it go deeper and deeper and act as a cause for reaching enlightenment for the benefit of all.