We are studying this letter by Tsongkhapa that he wrote to his friend the accomplished meditator Konchog-tsultrim. In this letter, Tsongkhapa is replying to a request he received to explain in a very practical way how to practice sutra and tantra.
Review of Previous Sessions
Tsongkhapa speaks about — first, that we’ve found an excellent working basis. Which is very important actually, to appreciate this working basis that we have, especially when it is not functioning very well, to realize how precious it actually is. Without it, we won’t really be able to make any progress or any study or help anybody actually, unless we’re a seeing-eye dog or something like that, but even that’s very trivial, the amount of help that we can give (not trivial, but superficial).
We have this excellent working basis and it’s very rare. Not only do we have that, but we’ve actually met with the precious teachings of the Buddha, and we have spiritual teachers, which is even more amazing. We have, as humans, the power of mind to discriminate between what’s beneficial, what’s not beneficial, what to adopt, and what to reject, which is a very important thing, because then on that basis we can actually do something positive. Otherwise, we just act out our animal type of instincts, which just gets us lower and lower, less opportunities to be of help to anybody else, let alone to ourselves.
When we have all of these magnificent things, then we need to engage ourselves in the teachings to make use of the working basis properly. To engage ourselves in the teachings — Tsongkhapa says it very well, that it’s not enough to have just kind thoughts. We need to actually go deeper and train our minds: overcome our confusion, our selfishness, and so on. To do this, we have to rely on guidance from someone who knows how to do that, who has actually gone through the process himself or herself.
The teacher is very important because the teacher inspires us by their example that it’s actually possible to go on this path and to accomplish something. The teacher acts as a focus for being able to see the purity of the mind. Whether or not the teacher has manifested that fully, that’s not the issue. The issue is that the teacher acts as the focal object for our aiming toward Buddhahood. And so that teacher is not just anybody, but the teacher has to be qualified.
The qualified teacher has many, many characteristics. Tsongkhapa doesn’t go into great detail, but he mentions some very important points. That the teacher has to be learned in the essential nature of the pathway minds that will lead us to these goals of liberation and enlightenment, which means the teacher has to know what are the types of minds that we need to develop and what are not. Then, secondly, know their definite count, which means not to add anything that’s unnecessary or is not effective and not to leave anything out. The teacher has to be learned in the graded order of how to apply them to each disciple’s mind, and what is the progression for leading the disciples on from one state to the next and be able to ascertain what level each of the students is on and when they’re ready for the next level, the next step in their development.
Then he goes on to say that the teacher has to have gained certainty about all of this by having trained himself or herself in all of this having depended likewise on a spiritual teacher, and that spiritual teacher has to have taught on the basis of the scriptural texts. That it’s important that one not make a big gulf between the textual tradition and what one might call the practice, because in fact all the practices derive from the great texts. It’s very important to have confidence in the source of these teachings.
Then the question is: How do we begin? And we begin by taming our minds, as Nagarjuna wrote in his Letter to a Friend. The way of taming our minds is all based on having a motivating mental framework, and that motivating mental framework is on the basis of graded stages. It’s not that we immediately have the most advanced framework of mind. When we talk about motivation, we’re talking about what we’re aiming for, why we’re aiming for that, and the emotion that is behind that. The most useful way of presenting the stages is according to what is known as the lam-rim, the graded stages of the path, and here we have three levels:
The initial level. We are aiming for always having precious human rebirth in future lives. It’s based on understanding the mental continuum. Each of our individual mental continuums has no beginning and no end, and therefore we want to be able to continue having this precious human rebirth (it is not something that is going to last). Although we certainly would like to aim for liberation and enlightenment in this lifetime, the chances are that’s not going to happen in this lifetime, so we need to be able to continue.
For that, we have to turn our attention away from just the ordinary pleasures and things and goals of this lifetime, but think on a much larger scale, in terms of what are the causes for a precious human rebirth. The main cause is ethical discipline, refraining from acting in a destructive manner. When we find ourselves about to act in a destructive manner, seeing that this is going to hamper our progress. It’s going to bring us more and more obstacles and suffering and difficulties that will prevent us from not only from gaining liberation, but if we think in this Mahayana (Skt. Mahāyāna) context then it would really prevent us from helping others. “The suffering of others is so awful, so great, that I don’t want to prevent myself from being able to do something positive. Therefore, I will refrain from just acting out my disturbing emotions of greed and lust and anger and naivety and so on.”
We take interest in that and also have pure prayers for precious human rebirth, not as our final goal but as the goal that we want to achieve along the way. (I’m presenting this now in terms of the graded stages leading up to Mahayana but within a Mahayana context.) We need to supplement that by all the other far-reaching attitudes — generosity, patience, perseverance, mental stability, and discriminating awareness.
This is initial level, working for our future lives.
Then we think, on the intermediate level, that if I continue even to have a precious human rebirth, it gets sick, it falls apart, it gets old, and the mind goes up and down with all sorts of mood changes and so on. We get tired, and we get nose bleeds (like I have at the moment). It really is a drag to have this. How can I really be of help to others if I’m stuck by the limitations of this type of body and this type of mind that I have (the hardware)? I really need to get out of that. I really need to gain liberation.
I can do that because basically if we think of the mental continuum (no beginning, no end), the unawareness or ignorance that brings on the disturbing emotions and brings on the impulsive behavior of karma — all of that is not part of the nature of that mind, that mental continuum. The mental continuum, the activity of making mental holograms (and that is what it means to know something, to cognize something), that process… not process but that mental activity, which occurs without there being a separate me or a separate machine or mind that’s doing that but that is just going on and on and on and on and on, that the essential nature of that is free of this unawareness, free of this misunderstanding or confusion — that’s not part of it. On the basis of that, it is possible of course to gain liberation, because if we’re free of that unawareness then we will stop causing this whole process of samsaric rebirth, continuing uncontrollable samsaric rebirth.
So, we develop what’s known as (in English and in most Western languages) renunciation (nges-’byung, Skt. naishkramya). There’s really none of that connotation in any of the words for it in the original languages. The Sanskrit and Pali terms for it mean “exit,” “getting out,” and the Tibetan translation of it has the connotation of “becoming certain” or “determination.” That’s what we develop, this determination to be free, to exit, and to exit not only from samsara (Skt. saṃsāra) itself but from the causes of samsara, which means that we want to — and that’s where you get this idea of renunciation, of the English word renunciation — that you renounce, or give up, the causes for uncontrollably recurring rebirth. We have this intermediate level.
The advanced level is thinking that this is not enough, to just gain liberation from our own uncontrollably recurring rebirth, but we have to really go further to be able to fully help everybody to overcome their sufferings. For that, we need to be able to understand fully cause and effect. We need to be able to understand what are all the causes for any individual being’s particular situation, samsaric situation, their suffering — we need to be able to understand, in other words, what is no longer happening with them (as it has affected the present) — we have to be able to understand the present situation of their minds, and we have to understand all the consequences or results that would happen if we taught them this or if we taught them that, so that we have the best idea of what to teach, how to actually help them.
What prevents us from knowing that is that our minds make things appear in boxes. In other words, the mind makes appearances of truly established existence, that things are existing all by themselves without being related to anything, that there’s something findable on their side that establishes them as what they are by itself. Our mind makes things appear like that because of the habits of grasping for true existence based on our unawareness. We believe that the appearances that our mind makes in its confusion — we believe that they refer to actuality, whereas they don’t. The state, the mind itself, the pure nature of the mind — that is free of this, free of this deceptive appearance-making. That also is part of the nature of the mind, because the mind, in its essential nature, does not make things appear as if they had true existence, truly established existence.
These are things we need to think about very, very much to become convinced of the pure nature of our mental activity, and not only our own mental activity but the mental activity of everybody. On the basis of sincere love and compassion — the wish for others to be happy and have the causes for happiness, and the wish for them to be free of suffering and causes of suffering (which is compassion) — then we aim for enlightenment, which is that state in which all these obscurations, fleeting obscurations, are removed forever. We can develop that love and compassion on the basis of understanding that everybody’s mind is basically free of all these obscurations, so we have great respect for them.
We work with these levels of motivation, and the way that I have been explaining them is with an emphasis on the nature of the mind.
There are two ways of developing bodhichitta (Skt. bodhicitta), two styles. One style is first to... When we speak of bodhichitta, bodhichitta (byang-chub-gyi sems) is a difficult word to translate. It’s a mind which is aimed at enlightenment, basically. One can aim at the relative truth (or conventional truth) of enlightenment, with all the various aspects of it, and aspire to actually reach it. That’s conventional bodhichitta or relative bodhichitta (kun-rdzob-gyi byang-chub-gyi sems). Or one could aim at the deepest nature of the mind of enlightenment. That’s ultimate bodhichitta it’s called deepest bodhichitta (don-dam-pa’i byang-chub-gyi sems).
One method is for those who have sharper faculties, as Nagarjuna explains it in his Bodhichitta Commentary (Bodhichittavivarana), that first one develops this deepest bodhichitta — that first one becomes convinced that enlightenment is possible, and then, on the basis of being convinced that enlightenment is possible for ourselves and for everybody, then one aims to achieve enlightenment. Whereas the other method is for those who are of a more emotional nature — to first develop the aspiration for enlightenment based purely on compassion and love, and then to become convinced that it actually is possible. I’ve been explaining the first method — thinking in terms of how it is possible to achieve enlightenment.
Then Tsongkhapa — his letter actually doesn’t differentiate the two methods (I’ve just been elaborating what he says) — he says that we need to have these motivating mental frameworks in an uncontrived manner, not just an intellectual understanding of them. In other words, we need to develop them sincerely and in such a way that they just automatically arise without having to work up to it. But in order to have that happen, we need to practice by building them up as habit by going through the various stages for doing this. That led to Tsongkhapa’s discussion of meditation, of how to meditate.
He says that to develop any state of mind, we need to know the causes for it, we need to know all the aspects of that state of mind (in other words, all the various details that are involved with it), we have to build up positive force and cleanse away negative force that would prevent us from developing that state of mind, we have to know what’s detrimental (what would harm developing that mind or having that mind), what would help it. Then specifically we need to know the details of that state of mind. In other words, what is it focused on, and what is the way in which the mind takes that object, and then once we’ve developed this, how it will function. We have all these details. Like compassion is focused on the suffering of others, and the way of taking it is the wish for it to be gone. Bodhichitta, conventional bodhichitta, is aimed on our own future enlightened state, which has not happened yet, but which can happen on the basis of the nature of the mind and Buddha-nature, and the way it takes it is to achieve that. It’s based on love and compassion: we want to achieve that to benefit others, and we will benefit others upon that achievement.
We have all this very, very practical beneficial advice as to how to actually meditate. And he says we need to supplement that by reading, in between our sessions, various accounts of how others have done this, particularly Buddha and so on, so we gain a little bit more inspiration and confidence.
Then when we actually engage in developing various states of mind — such as concentration, or the understanding of voidness, or bodhichitta, or whatever — that the motivation, the motivating mental framework, has to be maintained throughout the entire meditation session, not something that we just do in the beginning and then forget about it. At the end we need to dedicate the positive force from the meditation with what’s been built up.
Then, Tsongkhapa says, we would enter upon tantra practice, if that’s what we’re aiming to do. For that, he says, the basis is the vows that we take. The vows are very, very important. That is the essential aspect of entering any of the Buddha Vehicles. And so, the vehicles of mind — each one has its own set of vows for ethical discipline, and they build one upon the other. We have the pratimoksha (Skt. prātimokṣa) vows (the vows for individual liberation). On the basis of those, we have the bodhisattva vows. In the two higher classes of tantra we have the tantric vows, on the basis of these bodhisattva vows.
The Bodhisattva Vows
We then discussed the pratimoksha vows (the five lay vows). And now we’re up to the bodhisattva vows, and that’s what we will start today. That was based on the line from Tsongkhapa’s text:
And especially when we enter secret mantra,
That’s referring to tantra.
then, as previously explained, since bodhichitta is the ultimate essential point for all the Mahayana pathway minds, it is very important for that to be firm (with the bodhisattva vows).
OK? Bodhisattva vows… Are there any questions actually about what we’ve done? Since we have somebody new joining us today, I thought to do a rather long review. Any questions? Good.
Now, with bodhichitta we have the wishing state (or aspiring state) of bodhichitta (smon-sems) and we have the engaged state of bodhichitta (’jug-sems). The wishing state: we have merely wishing (smon-sems smon-pa-tsam), so merely wishing to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of others, and then the pledged state of never giving it up (smon-sems dam-bca’-can).
Without going into excruciating detail again, remember we discussed what bodhichitta is aimed at if we want to generate that state of mind? Bodhichitta is aimed at the third and fourth noble truths on the basis of our mental continuum, which have not happened yet. The third noble truth is a pure stopping or a true stopping, true stopping of the disturbing emotions and the habits of them, true stopping of our ignorance or unawareness or grasping for true existence and the habits of them. In other words, the state of the mind — well, the actual absence, the total absence, of these obscurations. These obscurations are fleeting: the nature of the mind was always free of them in its essential nature, although like clouds it was obscuring the mind’s functioning. Well, it wasn’t obscuring the functioning; it was obscuring what it produced in terms of its content. The function was always happening.
We’re focusing on the purity of the mind, and that comes down to the voidness of the mind. If we understand voidness — the mind does not exist in these impossible ways — then with that understanding, the mind is free: it doesn’t have that ignorance or that grasping for true existence. That understanding of voidness brings us to the true stopping. When we’re totally absorbed on that, the mind is not producing appearances of true existence either. From one point of view, the true stopping on our mental continuum is equivalent, in this sense, to the voidness of the mind. We’re focusing here on the purity of the mind, which has the double purity (dag-pa gnyis-ldan) it’s called — voidness and true stopping — in its essential nature, because the essential nature never had these obscurations. The true stopping of these obscurations — we focus on that. Then the true pathway mind, which is the mind that has the understanding of this actual nature, this essential nature, and then all the good qualities that come together with that, the result of that, based on the natural abilities of the mind when they are unlimited.
We’re focusing on this state of the mind which has not yet happened, but which can happen on the basis of Buddha-nature. We have two aspects of Buddha-nature:
- The abiding Buddha-nature (rang-bzhin gnas-rigs), which is the natural voidness of the mind and, from one point of view, the conventional nature of the mind, which is its making of appearances (or mental holograms) and knowing, what’s sometimes called clarity and awareness. That’s the abiding nature. Sometimes that clarity and awareness is called the evolving nature, but from another point of view it makes a little bit more sense to call it an abiding nature (because it’s always there).
- Then the evolving aspects of Buddha-nature (rgyas-’gyur-gyi rigs), which are the positive force and deep awareness that is built up on the mind as part of its beginningless state which then can be developed further and further and further, together with the aspects of body, speech, and mind (or communication and appearance, etc., of the mind) that will, in its unlimited state, allow us to have the qualities of a Buddha, but it has not yet happened but can happen on the basis of the Buddha-nature.
That’s what we’re focusing on, on the basis of our own individual mental continuum. That requires a great deal of understanding of the conventional and deepest nature of the mind, and all the potentials of the mental activity, and what it means to focus on something that has not yet happened, but which can happen. You can do that by focusing on the basis of it, and you focus on the basis in terms of the mental continuum that contains that. In terms of the mental continuum, you focus on what’s actually happening in each moment — what appears, in a sense, to the mind. Then imputed on that is the continuum and all these abilities and Buddha-nature things and the enlightenment that has not yet happened. We have that. All of that, of course, is represented by a Buddha-figure in tantra practice. That state of enlightenment that has not yet been attained then has an appearance: it brings on (or evokes) an appearance of a Buddha-figure. This bodhichitta — totally essential for tantra, focusing on that.
We have the wishing state of bodhichitta, which is the aspiration to achieve that enlightenment which has not yet happened, so to make it a presently-happening… well, you don’t make it a presently-happening enlightenment, but to achieve a presently-happening enlightenment. It’s not that the not-yet-happened one will transform into a presently-happening one. That’s not the way things work. But in any case, we wish to achieve it. Then the pledged state is that “I’m not going to give that up until I actually achieve enlightenment.” Then the engaged state is the state in which we take the bodhisattva vows, in which we are actually going to engage ourselves in the behavior that will bring us to that enlightened state.
The Five Trainings for the Development of a Bodhichitta Aim
Now, with the pledged state, in which we pledge (or promise) that we’re never going to give up or turn back or forsake this strong resolve that we have, we promise to follow five trainings, and these are very important:
[1] Recalling the advantages of the bodhichitta motivation
Each day and night we remind ourselves of the advantages of having a bodhichitta motivation. OK. That’s the first one. What does that mean? Many of us studied Shantideva’s text Engaging in Bodhisattva Behavior (Bodhicharyavatara (Skt. Bodhicaryāvatāra)), and in that the first chapter lists all the benefits of having bodhichitta, and so there’s a whole long list of them — that we surpass the shravakas and pratyekabuddhas, and we’re going to be praised by the gods and humans, and all of that. Many of those benefits are difficult to relate to, so I think that we need to think about the benefits in a very serious down-to-earth manner and what are the consequences of focusing on my individual not-yet-happened enlightenment (but which can happen on the basis of Buddha-nature and will happen on the basis of the effort that I plan to put into achieving it). What are the advantages of that?
First of all, there is no way that you could have low self-esteem if you are focusing on the purity of the mind, of your own mind, because you have confidence that it is possible to achieve enlightenment, so you can’t possibly think “I’m no good. I’m this or I’m that.” You’re strongly drawn to achieve it, which means you’re not going to be lazy. You are convinced that the disturbing emotions are just fleeting stains, so you don’t give in to them by saying, “Well, that’s the way that I am. I have this lust, I have this desire, I have this anger. That’s the way I am.” You’re convinced that “That’s not the way that I essentially am. That’s just fleeting garbage that’s there. I’m not going to pay attention to that. I’m not going to act it out when it happens. This is garbage.” This is what you fully understand when it arises. The advantages of that are incredible.
It also enables us, when we have bodhichitta, to have real sincere respect for everybody else, because we understand as well that they, similarly, have purity of mind. When they’re acting in a horrible way or in a lustful way or in an angry way or a troublesome way, that also is fleeting, based on unawareness and confusion. We don’t get angry at them; rather, we generate more and more compassion toward them. We feel interconnected with everybody. On a very practical level, the advantages are enormous, the benefits. It’s not merely…
Participant: Also, not arrogance, because how could you be better than…
Dr. Berzin: Right. Exactly. We’re not arrogant either. Buddha-nature is the same in everyone. Nor are we, on the other hand: “Everybody is better. I’m no good.” Neither superiority nor an inferiority complex. Gives us a purpose in life. Not just a purpose of the direction of safe direction, but much stronger, that “I’m going to actually achieve what a Buddha has done.” I mean, safe direction (or refuge) is a basis for that. This is taking it a bit further.
We remind ourselves of these benefits of having this bodhichitta motivation, every day and every night.
[2] Rededicating our hearts to enlightenment
Then the second one is we reaffirm and strengthen this motivation by rededicating our hearts to enlightenment and to others three times each day and three times each night. That means that we reaffirm this dedication, we reaffirm the purity of mind, we reaffirm that “That’s what I’m aiming to achieve.” And what’s really important is the basis for all of this, which is love and compassion. It’s not just me by myself and “My mind is pure and I’m going to merge with the universe (or extinguish, or whatever) because the mind is so pure.” The whole basis for this is love and compassion, concern for others. Why? Because we’re totally interconnected with others. We’re totally interdependent with others. Others’ suffering is as terrible as our own suffering. Others want to get out of their suffering as much as we want to get out of our suffering.
We reaffirm not just the bodhichitta aim but all the things that support it. Remember what Tsongkhapa emphasized in how to meditate: you have to know all the things that support the state of mind that you’re trying to achieve. All the surrounding mental factors that support bodhichitta — love, compassion, taking responsibility, etc., this feeling of interconnectedness, the kindness of others, etc., equanimity (so we’re not acting under the influence of favoritism; we’re equally open to everybody), all of these things. We reaffirm that, strengthen that, over and over again, three times during the day, three times during the evening, whether we do it three times altogether, twice a day, or however we do it. It’s not just going “Blah, blah, blah” with words, but actually reminding ourselves, restrengthening it. That is… with this pledged state of bodhichitta, this is what we pledge that we’re going to train with.
[3] Striving to strengthen the enlightenment-building networks
Then the third one. We strive to build up bountiful stores or networks of positive force and deep awareness (that’s usually translated as the “collections of merit and insight”). That means that we understand these very important aspects of evolving — Buddha-nature it’s called — these Buddha-nature factors that will transform into the various Bodies of a Buddha (or Corpuses of a Buddha).
That’s positive force and deep awareness. We all have a certain amount of positive force, a certain amount of deep awareness (the way the mind functions and so on). We want to build it up further and further and further, positive force, by actually helping others, not just sitting on our rear ends, and wishing to become enlightened. Not just sitting and meditating by ourselves, although sometimes that’s very necessary to do. But as much as possible actually get out there and help others in whatever way we can. Make some contribution. Build up this positive force. Don’t just do it so that I can get the points, the goody points, and build up more positive force. Do it because you really want to help others, even if it might not be the deepest level of help.
Build up more deep awareness. The actual definitional way of doing that is nonconceptual total absorption on voidness. We can’t do that yet, most of us. We do what approximates that, in terms of study on voidness, meditate on it, get a conceptual understanding, use the different types of deep awareness that the mind naturally has:
- Mirror-like (me-long lta-bu’i ye-shes), taking in information. Try to take in as much information as possible.
- Equalizing (mnyam-nyid ye-shes), seeing the patterns as much as possible.
- Individualizing (sor-rtog ye-shes), respecting the individuality of each person.
- Accomplishing (bya-grub ye-shes), relating, knowing how to relate to others
- And then the reality (or dharmadhatu) awareness (chos-dbyings ye-shes), being aware of the conventional and deepest natures of things.
Use that — work with it, strengthen it — over and over, all the time, each day. This is what we do, he says. We’re working to achieve enlightenment.
[4] Never give up trying to help anyone
Then the fourth one. We never give up trying (or at least wishing) to help anyone, no matter how difficult he or she may be. That’s not an easy one, is it? Never going to give up at least wishing to help others.
You think about this one. Are we talking here just about human beings? Are we talking about the so-called enemies of our country or the enemies of our friend? Those certainly are challenging enough, not to give up wanting to help them, wanting to benefit them, wishing that they overcome their hatred and ignorance and so on. But what about other life forms? Now it starts to become much more challenging. The wish to be able to benefit all beings who in their present lifetime have manifest... their karma has generated a mosquito body, for example. This is why the understanding of the mental continuum — beginningless and no end, individual ones, fleeting stains — because of these fleeting stains, with unawareness it generates karma, karma generates various rebirth forms, including mosquito, including cockroach, including whatever. “I may not be able to help this mosquito, this being who is currently a mosquito right now, but I understand that this individual has Buddha-nature. It may have been my mother last lifetime or may be my mother next lifetime.” At least wishing to help it, and certainly not just smashing it between our hands or with a flyswatter. No matter how difficult it might be, it says.
[5] Ridding ourselves of four types of murky behavior
Then the fifth one. We rid ourselves of four murky types of behavior (nag-po’i chos-bzhi) and adopt four glowing ones (dkar-po’i chos-bzhi) in their stead. The Tibetan uses the words black (nag-po) and white (dkar-po) here, but those are not politically correct, so we’ll translate it as murky and glowing. These are four sets of contrasting modes of behavior that have a negative one that we want to avoid and a positive one that we want to enact. This also we train ourselves to do.
[5A] First one. We stop deceiving our gurus, parents, and the Triple Gem. Instead, we’re always honest with them, especially about our motivation and our efforts to help others. You have to be honest: What I am actually doing? Not pretend and say, “Well, I’m really helping everybody. I’m praying. I’m doing this, I’m doing that,” but come straight forward.
What is involved with this, if you think about it, is if we really respect our teachers and our parents and those who help us, who guide us, then there’s a certain psychology that goes behind that, isn’t there? It might not be the highest motivation, but you want to please them. We don’t just help others in order to please our teachers so we can report back and we get a pat on the head. As I often have related that my own teachers have said, “Well, what is it? You want to please the teacher, and they pat you on your head and then you wag your tail?” This is not what we are helping others to do. But when you think of your teacher, then “I have so much respect for my teacher that I wouldn’t want to act in a horrible, deluded manner. I want to, out of respect… Because of that respect, it inspires me to try to emulate how my teacher acts. I’m not going to deceive the teacher in terms of letting the teacher down. Teacher has great respect for me. I have, therefore, respect for the teacher. Respect for the teacher means that I’m going to act in a proper manner and not deceive the teacher.”
In other words, we’re not talking here only of lying to the teacher, that “I am doing this and that and this and that,” when we haven’t, but deceiving the trust of the teacher and the respect that the teacher has for us, for our Buddha-natures. If we have respect for our own Buddha-nature, and the teacher has respect for our own Buddha-nature, that we don’t act like idiots and we don’t deceive them, but we’re always honest, honest with our motivation. If my motivation is not the highest now — “OK, but I’m striving for that, and I’m working on it, and I don’t just give in to lower motivations. I work with it.”
We don’t always succeed, that’s true. Sometimes our disturbing emotions or habits are very, very strong, and it’s hard to overcome them; it’s hard to exercise self-control. Then we have all these other methods — of regretting that, really trying our best next time not to do like this, and openly admitting to ourselves, to our teachers, “OK, I’m acting like this,” not hiding it, “But I’m working on it.” Not just to say, “I’m working on it,” when we’re not, but really to work on it. Dharma gives us methods to work on it. We look to the Dharma for these methods. It’s part of refuge, isn’t it, that I accept the Dharma methods as the methods that actually will lead to liberation, and so I will follow them; I will try to use them.
There’s a lot that’s involved here with not deceiving the teachers and being honest about our motivation.
[5B] Second one. We stop faulting and being contemptuous of bodhisattvas. Ooh, what does that mean? That means that we don’t really know who is a bodhisattva. The opposite of this is to regard everyone in a pure way as our teacher. Even if people act in a horrible way, they teach us not to act in that way. A bodhisattva is somebody who is trying to help us, aiming for enlightenment. “This person may not be aiming for enlightenment, but I can regard them as a teacher. They teach me something.”
“The baby teaches me to appreciate that I’m not a baby anymore and that I can do more than just cry when I’m unhappy. The baby teaches me that. The baby teaches me that I want to overcome uncontrollably recurring rebirth in which I have to become a baby every time that I’m born again. I have to go through a long period of training over and over again. What a drag! Baby teaches me that. Baby is my teacher.” We respect the baby, not get annoyed when the baby wakes me up in the middle of the night with crying, because we appreciate from that crying that “Wow, I’m happy that I’m not like that, that all I could do in the face of unhappiness and not getting my way is cry.”
This is the second pair, to stop faulting and being contemptuous of bodhisattvas. That also means not complaining when others are trying to do good. There are some people that might not be the most skillful in the way that they’re trying to help, but that doesn’t mean that we say what they’re doing is wrong or think lowly of them. They’re trying. We might be able to suggest better ways in which they can help others, but we don’t just negatively criticize.
[5C] Then the third one. We stop causing others to regret anything positive or constructive they’ve done. That discourages them from trying. The opposite of that is we encourage others to be constructive and helpful. If they’re receptive to work toward liberation and enlightenment, that doesn’t mean that we go out and convert everybody, that we’re on a mission, but we encourage others.
There are many different ways of encouraging others. One way, of course, is to praise them, to reinforce them: “Oh, you’re doing so well, blah, blah, blah,” like that. For certain people, that might be helpful. For other people, that might not be the best way to encourage them. I’ve related many times that my own teachers… except for twice in nine years, Serkong Rinpoche never thanked me, never praised me to my face, and that was a very good way of encouraging me. Not encouraging me to “Maybe if I really did something good, he would thank me,” not in that sense, but encouraged me to understand that if I’m doing anything to help him, it was purely to help others. It was not for a “thank you,” but I do that because it needs to be done and I see the benefit of doing it.
That’s one way of encouraging others. This is why, when we think more and more, it really is important to become a Buddha, so that we know each person’s mental state, their emotional state, what will be the best and most effective way of helping them. With this person, you constantly thank them and say how wonderful they are. You might just reinforce their doing things in order to please you, and so it just reinforces their low self-esteem, in a sense — it doesn’t increase their good self-esteem; it just reinforces their low self-esteem. It may, in the sense that “I’m no good, and I always need reassurance. But I still have to prove something, because basically I’m no good.”
Participant: It makes them dependent.
Dr. Berzin: It makes a dependency. It makes a dependency. We need skill.
But it’s very important not to cause others to regret the positive things that they’ve done. That also is not so easy, because sometimes you need to correct them: They try to do something positive, but they didn’t do it very well. You don’t say, “You’re an idiot for trying,” and come down very heavy, but you need to be able to give them proper advice and guidance. And this again requires understanding the person and knowing what’s the best way of relating to them. That’s not so easy. But again, build up the positive... As we go back, all these various points here network with each other. We go back to an earlier point here: build up the bountiful stores, the networks of positive force and deep awareness. Use that:
- Take in the information about the person.
- Try to see the patterns, understand.
- Respect the individuality of this person.
- On the basis of that, relate to the person in terms of that information.
- And then understanding, on the basis of where they are now — Are they a teenager? Are they an old man or an old woman? — the reality of their situation.
That helps very much.
[5D] Then the fourth is we stop being hypocritical and pretentious in our dealings with others. In other words, we stop hiding our faults and pretending to have qualities that we lack. Instead, we take responsibility to help others, always being honest and frank about our own limitations and abilities.
That means that it’s important not to raise false hopes with others. If we have shortcomings, if we have limitations, we admit them. That doesn’t mean that you have to go around to the whole world and put on your website that “I have this and this fault.” That’s not necessary. You don’t have to broadcast them. But in specific situations, if you make a mistake, you admit “I made a mistake.” If you’re not capable at this point of doing something, of helping or doing that, you say, “I’m sorry. I’m just not able to do that.” Or if we can’t do something now, we say that. Or if we acted in a terrible way, we apologize. You don’t hide these faults. You say, “I’m sorry. I was wrong.” We don’t pretend that we have qualities and can do things that we don’t. And so, we need to be very honest about others.
Now we have to think how all of these points relate to bodhichitta. I mean, these are very nice guidelines, aren’t they? But these are what we train with with this pledged state of wishing bodhichitta: “I’m never going to forsake this bodhisattva mind. If I’m working for enlightenment and working to do that in order to help everybody else achieve enlightenment, then obviously I don’t want to discourage them from going in that direction. I don’t want to discourage them from their constructive actions. I don’t want to make them regret that. I want to encourage them in that situation. I want to be honest with myself and with my teachers and with others in terms of what I’m doing, because I am aiming for enlightenment. How can I be aiming for enlightenment if I don’t admit my faults, and if I pretend to have qualities that I don’t (if I’m pretentious), and if I lie to myself and others about where I’m at in this process?” All of these points really fit very well with this whole striving toward enlightenment and not forsaking it. These are very important points to train in and not something to just skip over. Are there any questions on them?
OK. Let’s review. Every day and evening we remind ourselves of the benefits of having bodhichitta, what I’m doing. We reaffirm our commitment, our bodhichitta, every day and every night. Three times in the morning, three times in the evening. (Actually, we try to do this through the day.) We work to reinforce and build up more and more of these networks of positive force and deep awareness, which are going to bring us to enlightenment, because we understand that this is the basis for achieving enlightenment. We never give up trying to help others, because obviously that’s what we’re aiming for, is to be a Buddha to be able to help everybody. In that process, we’re going to not deceive our teachers about our motivation. We’re always going to be honest with our teachers, with parents, with the Triple Gem, with whatever. We’re not going to fault others and belittle them — because who knows who is a bodhisattva? — but regard everybody as a teacher, with respect, what I can learn from others. “I’m not going to cause anybody to regret the positive things they’ve done but encourage them more and more. I’m not going to be hypocritical, hide my faults, and pretend to have qualities that I lack. I’m always going to be honest and frank in my dealings with others.” OK? This is the package that we have here.
Then when we go to the next step, to develop engaged bodhichitta… Engaged bodhichitta is when we actually take the bodhisattva vows, and this is when we are at the stage where “I’m really going to engage in the behavior that’s going to bring me to this enlightened state.” In other words, it’s going to bring about a presently-happening enlightenment (third and fourth noble truths), and a body and manifestation that goes with that, on my mental continuum. It’s presently happening, not just what’s not yet happening but which I wish would happen — “I’m aiming for it to happen.”
The Eighteen Bodhisattva Root Downfalls
There are 18 what’s usually called the root bodhisattva vows and 46 secondary bodhisattva vows. What they are actually called, however, in terms of the terminology, is “eighteen actions that, if committed, act as a root downfall” (byang-sems-kyi tsa-ltung). That’s the literal term, root downfall (rtsa-ltung). It’s expressed in terms of actions that we want to avoid. Downfall (ltung) means a loss of the bodhisattva vows, so we’d fall down from having these vows. The word root (rtsa) implies that it’s a root to be eliminated. These are things that, if we commit them, it would cause us to fall away from our bodhisattva vows, fall away from bodhisattva behavior, fall away from working to achieve enlightenment; and these are things, like a root, that have to be pulled out, or avoided. Then the 46 secondary vows are referring to 46 types of faulty behavior. The actual term is faulty behavior (nyes-byas). Again, they are phrased in terms of things to avoid.
We promise to avoid them, or at least try to avoid them, not just for our entire life but from lifetime to lifetime until our attainment of enlightenment. We don’t actually lose these bodhisattva vows at the time of our death, but we continue them. Even if we’re born as a mosquito, in a sense we have the bodhisattva vows. You have to refresh them, in a sense, in each lifetime — that’s very important — otherwise they’re in a very sort of dormant type of state. But even if they’re in a dormant type of state, because they continue on your mental continuum, whatever positive things you do contribute, in a sense, to strengthening our drive toward enlightenment, the positive force toward enlightenment.
There are various explanations of these vows, of these negative actions that bring about a root downfall and these faulty actions. The explanation that I give is based on Tsongkhapa’s commentary. For each of these vows, each of these faulty actions, they have various stipulations that are there that you need to know. Certain disturbing emotions have to be with them, certain... it’s not just general; it’s quite specific. Let’s start looking at these. We only have a few minutes left, but we might as well start.
[1] Praising ourselves and/or belittling others
The first one. The action that we want to avoid is praising ourselves and/or belittling others. This means the person to whom we speak such words needs to be somebody in an inferior position to us. And our motivation is, on the one hand, desire and greed for receiving material profit, praise, love, respect, and so on… The person that we are praising ourselves to — we want to get something from them. It could even be their vote, for example. Belittling others, the one that we belittle… we need to have jealousy of the person that we belittle. We have greed that we want to get something from the person that we’re speaking to, and that person needs be in an inferior position to us so that we could get something from them.
Participant: What is inferior?
Dr. Berzin: An inferior position would be like I’m running for office, and this is a voter. Or I am a lawyer or a Buddhist teacher or a psychologist, or something, and those in inferior position are my potential clients or students. I say that “I am the best teacher. All the other teachers are no good,” because I’m jealous of the other teachers and I want you to be my student because I want to get your money or your dependency on me, or whatever, your love of me, your respect for me, or whatever. This is behind so much of our advertising, so much of our campaigning in elections, so much in our business dealings. “I’m the best. Everybody else is no good. Come to me. Don’t go to anybody else.” That’s not a very easy one, is it, to stop. As some friends of mine who are businessmen have asked, how can you conduct a successful business, a competitive business, if you have this bodhisattva vow? How do you do that? Any suggestions?
Participant: Maybe just a counter-suggestion. Can you really run a good business without this precept? Because if you really belittle your employees…
Dr. Berzin: Right. What he’s saying is that if you belittle your employees then you couldn’t run a good business. But this is another aspect: “I am the only one who can do it. My employees can’t do it right, can’t do it correctly. I am the best and you’re no good.” That’s true; if you have that attitude toward your employees and you are running a business, it wouldn’t work, not at all.
But the point is that here... I mean, it’s saying that we’re speaking to somebody else. What you say is true, but that’s not this vow. That’s why the vow is quite specific. We’re talking to somebody else and saying, “I’m the best, and a third person is no good. Come to me.” That’s why we have to know what the vow is. You have to know all the specifics of it. If you’re constantly putting down someone else… I mean, this comes from the first one — discouraging others from positive acts and not encouraging them. If you want to have good workers, you have to encourage them, not just discourage them, that “You can’t do anything right!”
How do we conduct a business? How do you get customers?
Participant: Maybe if you say, “I do the best cookies,” without saying that the other bakery is worse. You can say, “I do the best cookies.”
Dr. Berzin: OK. She says if we have a bakery, and we say just the first part, “I have the best cookies,” without putting down the others — “The others make terrible cookies” — that that’s sufficient. I don’t think so. I don’t think so. I think you have to go to the definition of praise.
Participant: One could say that but without attachment.
Dr. Berzin: You could say this without attachment, that “I’m the best”? No. No. We’re talking about greed and desire for... What’s the motivation? Our motivation has to be greed and desire. First of all… I mean it doesn’t say here, but there’s some pride that’s involved here, which is to exaggerate the good qualities of what I have — “I’m the best.” Come on! You’ve tested absolutely everybody in the universe, and I’m the best? That’s absurd.
Participant: Every cookie.
Dr. Berzin: Every cookie in the universe, and I make the best. That’s absurd. That’s absurd. But we are desirous of... we’re greedy: I want to get more, I want to make more money, I want to get more students, I want to get more recognition, or whatever. We are overvaluing, exaggerating, the good qualities of that. Sure, I need to make money in order to pay my rent. That’s beside the point. But greed is involved here. We want more and more and more, and so I exaggerate my good qualities. It doesn’t mean that you go around and say, “I make terrible cookies.”
Participant: But the others are even worse.
Dr. Berzin: “But the others are even worse.” This is a very difficult thing. “I make cookies. You can get cookies here.” Do you have to say they’re the best cookies? No. Not necessarily.
Participant: But you can without greed.
Dr. Berzin: You can without greed?
Participant: You can do the best cookies, but the other person can decide if it’s best.
Dr. Berzin: Or you can just say... I take the example of my website. I think we each have to think of our own examples, of our own personal example. I want to make my website known to others because I think it would benefit them. But I don’t advertise it as “This is the best website and the biggest one,” and so on. Because I want your money? I don’t charge anything for the website to start with. I want your… What do I want?
Participant: Approval.
Dr. Berzin: Your approval. Your respect. Well, respect is pretty weird when people give it to you. I can say this from my own experience. It’s weird when people come up to you and “Oh, you’re so wonderful.” That’s very weird actually. Weird means strange. Strange. It’s not a real human contact with somebody. That’s not it. Greed? I examine myself — am I greedy for the numbers? I would like more and more numbers? Well, probably I am. (Bodhisattva training: I’m not going to hide my shortcomings.) But that doesn’t go anywhere.
Participant: HTTP accesses?
Dr. Berzin: Access and so on. But I don’t belittle others. I’m not going to say that everybody else’s stuff is no good. I think that if one wants to keep this and do a business — I mean, I’m not doing a business — but deal with a service to others, one has to examine the motivation. Is the motivation really to help them or is to get something from them? If your motivation is really to help them, then to just present what you have without exaggerating it and not putting down somebody else.
Participant: I think one could go to the extreme of thinking that then you don’t need to present what you do at all.
Dr. Berzin: Right. You could misunderstand this and think you don’t have to present what you have. That’s pretty funny. “Bodhisattva available. The bodhisattva is in” — you put your sign up — “Come to me for help.” As I say, this is a very difficult, very delicate thing. It’s like, for instance, you can say to somebody — you don’t have to say to the general public, but the people that you are acquainted with — “If you need any help, let me know. I’m available to help if I can. Can’t promise, but you can come to me.” Something like that.
Anyway, our time is up for today, and we can continue this discussion. But each of these bodhisattva vows gives us a great deal to think about. We shouldn’t just take them lightly, but think quite deeply: “What does it entail? How is my behavior in accord with this? And what would I need to change in my behavior in order to keep these vows and, as in the case of this first one, make a living, have a profession, deal with others?” To figure it out, what would be the best way. OK?
Let’s end with a dedication. We think whatever positive force and understanding has come from this, may it go deeper and deeper and act as a cause for reaching enlightenment for the benefit of all.