Bodhichitta

The Two Truths To develop a bodhichitta aim, the first thing that we need to know and be clear about is to have some idea of what bodhichitta is. There are actually two aspects of bodhichitta and this is in accordance with the two truths. The two truths about anything are the...

Homage Verse and Verse 1 The Author, Atisha A Bodhisattva’s Garland of Gems (Skt. Bodhisattva-mani-avali) was written by the great Indian master Atisha (Atisha Dipamkarashrijnana, 982–1054). As a great Buddhist master at the Vikramashila Monastery, he was very concerned about...

Conventional and Deepest Bodhichitta There are two facets of bodhichitta: conventional or relative and deepest bodhichittas. Both bodhichittas are aimed at our own individual, future enlightenment which has not happened yet; but on the basis of our Buddha-natures and a great...

This weekend, we are going to speak about the bodhisattva vows. And obviously in order to understand the bodhisattva vows we need to understand what a bodhisattva is, and what bodhichitta is, upon which it is based. And in terms of that, we have many, many different...

(1) Respectfully, I prostrate to the Blissfully Gone (Buddhas) endowed with Dharmakaya, as well as to their (bodhisattva) offspring and to everyone worthy of prostration. Let me explain (how to) engage in the Blissfully Gone offsprings' code, which I’ve compiled and condensed...

Review Today is our second session of the seven-part cause and effect meditation for generating bodhichitta. Yesterday, as an introduction, we looked at some of the factors that are involved in generating the bodhichitta aim. We focused primarily on the conventional...

We were discussing bodhichitta and what it means to be a bodhisattva, and we saw what place taking the bodhisattva vows has in the general progression of developing bodhichitta, and the stages of developing bodhichitta. And what’s really important is to understand the role...

Equalizing and Exchanging Self with Others We’ve been discussing the Seven Point Mind Training by the Kadam Geshe Chekawa who lived in the twelfth century. So far, we’ve covered the first two points: the preliminaries and the actual training in deepest bodhichitta. Now, we’re...

The Ceremony for Wishing Bodhichitta, Together with Advice When we talk about developing bodhichitta, then of course this is a process that we need to work up to and which requires a great deal of work and effort in order to sincerely feel. There are stages of meditation for...

We’ve been discussing the three principal pathways of mind. The first is renunciation, which is turning away from obsession with – as we added – immediate gratification, taking interest in what’s going to happen to us later in this lifetime and in future generations. This is...