Enlightenment – Karmapa Center 16

Wishing everyone onsite at KC16 and online on Zoom a good morning, Acharya Lhakpa Tshering resumed guiding our practice and continued his commentary on The 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva as taught by Ngulchu Tokmé. Looking at verse 18 and 19, the question to ask ourselves is: How to take loss and gain onto the heroic path of compassion?

The Heroic Intention of a Bodhisattva

Part of our śamatha practice is to always connect with the intention to seek enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings–bodhicitta. At the beginning of our session, our resident teacher stressed the heroic quality and the importance of this intention. It is heroic since we open our hearts to all sentient beings. We do so with a sense of gratitude since they have supported us in one way or another in the world of samsara, from beginningless time. The importance can be seen in the eighteenth verse:

“Even when I am made destitute, people constantly berate me,
And grave illness and evil spirits strike me,
To take on still the suffering and misdeeds of all beings for myself Without losing heart is the practice of a bodhisattva.”
Quoted from: A Guide to the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, translated by Christopher Stagg.

“Without losing heart,” Acharya pointed out, refers to bodhicitta or heart of awakening. Why is this important? “If the intention of benefiting others is not present from the very outset, we will not be able to take hardships and suffering onto the path,” he said.

“Why me?” is Not the Question

Usually, when we face difficult situations like those pointed out in this verse, we think: “Why me? Why is this always happening to me?” Furthermore, we then typically blame others or are upset with the outside world. However, as a dharma practitioner, we should ask ourselves: “Is this going to contribute to the cause of enlightenment for myself and others?” Counter to our habits, we seek to make good use of adverse situations. The main point, therefore, is how to take suffering, hardships, and whatever discomfort in our lives, onto the path. How do we make use of them in our practice?

The Manure for Enlightenment

In the Mahāyāna sūtras, the Buddha illustrated the notion of taking any situation onto the path with cow dung. Like farmers use this to enrich their fields, bodhisattvas use all conditions, no matter what difficulty they encounter, as a way to further their practice and use it to attain the state of omniscience–buddhahood.

What if others are free from such difficulties? Rather than thinking about why they have what we are lacking, we should remember that we are engaging in the practice for their sake. We wish them to be free from any kind of hardship and discomfort. Seeking to free them from suffering, we take everything onto the path, not only our own difficulties but the difficulties of others as well. We do so “without losing heart.”

While this is surely not an easy practice, Acharya emphasized that we can always start with small steps. Slowly we will be able to take the challenges we encounter onto the path and exchange our happiness with the suffering of others.

Appreciating Wealth and Renown with Mindfulness and Mental Alertness

While the eighteenth verse speaks about taking loss onto the path, the next verse, nineteen, teaches about gain. In A Guide to the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, translated by Christopher Stagg, it reads:

“Even if I become renowned and everyone pays me respect,
Or should I obtain wealth like that of Vaishravana,
To see the wealth of samsara as having no essence
And not have pride is the practice of a bodhisattva.”

The verse points to Vashravana, the god of wealth, according to traditional buddhist teachings. However, Acharya shared that we can simply think of rich people in our present-day world. Regardless of who we think of, and however wealthy that person may be, the same message expressed in this verse applies: It is impermanent.

The impermanent nature of things applies equally to material wealth as to other things that Ngulchu Tokmé is pointing to with this verse: being renowned, respected, and so forth. This is not difficult to understand. We can find countless examples of people who gained a lot at some point in their lives and later on lost everything again. This does not mean that such things are inherently bad. It means that they simply have no essence.

What does this mean for us as a dharma practitioner? If we gain some kind of renown and wealth, we can appreciate that. However, through the qualities of mindfulness and being mentally alert, we can remain aware of their impermanent nature and develop contentment.

Blowing Up the Balloon of Pride

The benefits of mindfulness and mental alertness, or introspection, is that it will prevent pride to arise in our mind-stream. Acharya Lhakpa taught that pride can be compared to a balloon. “The more we blow up the balloon of pride, the farther away we will be from attaining the qualities of nirvāṇa and the state of buddhahood.”

Pride contaminates, Acharya explained, the vessel or container which holds the qualities of enlightenment. Therefore, no matter whether we have a lot of wealth, are renowned, and so forth, or not, we always need mindfulness and introspection. Seeing that phenomena are impermanent, changing every second, will reduce our pride. If, he said, “we will contaminate the container of enlightenment of pride, that will neither benefit ourselves nor others.”

Does It Make Any Sense to You?

The main practice of the Mahāyāna, for all who tread the heroic path of compassion, is to always consider how to take happiness and suffering, comfort and discomfort, onto the path. More particularly, bodhisattvas take the mental afflictions like attachment, aversion, and ignorance–the three poisons–onto the path. Therefore, Acharya Lhakpa said: “We don’t have to get rid of the mental afflictions. Rather, we make use of them to move farther along the path.”

As a way to conclude our session, Acharya reminded us of something he mentioned before: Sometimes we may look at a verse and think, ‘How is this possible? It does not make any sense!’ However, instead of immediately responding in that way, we should carefully investigate and contemplate these verses, wondering: What is the point here? What does make sense to me? “If,” our resident teacher said, “you find one verse that makes sense to you, that helps you to transform your mental afflictions into path, that’s it. That’s your practice.”

Thanking everyone onsite and online for joining our practice, we dedicated the merit.

Karmapa Khyenno!

Acharya Lhakpa Tshering welcomed everyone onsite and online and led us in the practice of śamatha (calm-abiding meditation). Reminding us of some key points during this practice, our resident teacher emphasized the importance of openness and relaxation. In particular, he gave instructions on how to relate to our breathing during meditation, saying:

“If your breathing is shallow, let it be shallow. If your breathing is deep, let it be deep. Don’t try to alter your breathing because you are doing meditation.”

What is important is to simply feel and be aware of our breath as it comes in and goes out. This practice helps bring the mind to the present moment and allows us to stay with present awareness.

Three Beings or Capabilities: How to Make Progress on the Path?

During our previous Meditation for All session we spoke about the eighth verse from the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, written by the great Tibetan master, Ngulchu Tokmé. This verse, Acharya Lhakpa reminded us, speaks about those beings who fear the sufferings of the lower realms and seek to maintain the happiness of the realms of humans or gods. As a sidenote, he mentioned that we can think of gods as beings who live, perhaps, in a high-end neighbourhood but still remain in the cycle of saṃsāra, falling down into lower states when their merit is exhausted.

Acharya stressed that while beings who pursue the comforts of the higher realms are described as “lesser” or “inferior,” this has little to do with looking down on or criticizing them. It is more about the capability of a person engaging in practice. The next two verses describe the path of the middling and supreme beings, respectively, illuminating how to make progress.

The Middling Being or Capacity: Seeking Personal Liberation

The ninth verse shows the practice of the middling beings or those with a middling capacity:

“The pleasures of the three realms, like dewdrops on a blade of grass, Are objects that perish in an instant.
To strive for the supreme state of liberation
That is never changing is the practice of a bodhisattva.”

–Quoted from A Guide to the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, translated by Christopher Stagg

The person with this middling ability understands that the happiness of all three realms is like a dewdrop on a blade of grass: without essence, impermanent, and ever-changing. This includes the form and formless realms.

This is similar to what Acharya taught during previous sessions about the lower realms reflecting our mental afflictions; the form and formless realms also do not point to some kind of place “out there.” They refer, instead, to a state of mind that is accomplished through meditation practice. In this case, while these states of mind may be free from attachments and material desires, they are still within saṃsāra. Clearly seeing this, middling beings strive for the never-changing state of liberation.

Leading us in an analytical meditation practice, Acharya Lhakpa helped us to understand how the happiness in our human lives is indeed like a dewdrop on a blade of grass. While the beings with lesser ability are content with the comforts of human life and/or the higher realms, those with middling capacity realize samsaric happiness to be like a dewdrop during a serene early morning–beautiful, perhaps, but disappearing with the slightest vibration or sunlight. Because they want to get out of this trouble only for themselves, this is known as the path of the middling beings.

The Path of the Mahāyāna: Connecting with Other Beings

The next verse from our root text concerns the third and highest capacity, and was translated by Christopher Stagg as follows:

“From beginningless time, my mothers have loved me.
If they suffer, how can I worry about my own happiness?
Therefore, in order to liberate sentient beings, which are boundless,
To engender bodhicitta is the practice of a bodhisattva.”

The way of thinking taught in this verse, Achara Lhakpa explained, is that we have taken birth again and again since time without beginning. This being so, all beings have been our mother at some point and kindly have taken care of us. Therefore, with a feeling of gratitude and understanding of the equal importance of all beings, we seek complete enlightenment for the benefit of everyone and not narrowly limit ourselves to personal liberation.

If we find it difficult to relate to this notion of beginningless time, rebirth, and/or considering all beings as our mother, Acharya pointed out that the key point is about making a connection. Seeing someone as a caring mother is like an example. We could also think in the following way: Yesterday was our past life, today is the present, and tomorrow will be a new one. Contemplating our existence in this way allows us to realize how our well-being depends on countless others. Without them, we wouldn’t even be able to survive.

To connect with other sentient beings, we can bring to mind someone–a brother, sister, uncle, aunt, anyone we feel close to–and cultivate a feeling of an intimate relationship. Taking this approach, we practice loving-kindness and compassion. This is the foundation of the Mahāyāna. “Without this practice, there would be no path of Mahāyāna,” Acharya said.

Bodhicitta as Supreme Ability: Boundless Compassion

Slowly we begin to understand the equal importance of all sentient beings. Generally, Acharya Lhakpa shared, we have the habitual tendency to think in limited ways and are oftentimes not able to practice loving-kindness and compassion for a certain individual or group of beings. We might even have the desire to benefit others, but only to a certain degree. “I want to be kind to all sentient beings, except that uncle. Something like that,” he said.

In contrast, those with the supreme capacity are able to open their hearts for all sentient beings. Not thinking in terms of “mine” and “yours,” or any other kind of limitation, their compassion is beyond measure. The Four Immeasurables that we usually recite at the beginning of our session relate to this. Making our minds as vast as the sky and opening our hearts in this way, is known as giving rise to bodhicitta–the heart of awakening.

Beings with middling capacity share the same wisdom. They see that all samsaric happiness is like a dewdrop on a blade of grass. However, they lack the methods of loving-kindness and compassion for all sentient beings. Therefore, those who bring method and wisdom together, are known as supreme beings who practice the way or vehicle of the bodhisattvas.

A Guide on the Path

Summarizing verse eight, nine, and ten, Acharya shared his own understanding of these verses. Rather than thinking in terms of classes or categories of different beings, Ngulchu Tokmé teaches us about our motivation for our practice and offers a guide to progress on the path.

First, we contemplate the suffering of the lower realms and strive for the happiness of the higher ones. Second, we develop the insight that this happiness is only temporary and impermanent. Thus, we strive for unchanging liberation, which means that we will not fall back into the world of suffering. Seeing the narrow or limited quality of this individual liberation, we open the heart of compassion and strive for complete enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings.

“The intention of the author here is not to describe three different beings but rather how one can develop on the path through practicing step-by-step, and making progress to attain complete enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings.”

With this note, Acharya Lhakpa concluded our session and expressed his gratitude to everyone onsite and online for joining. Next Sunday we will continue our meditation practice and contemplate this further. After dedicating the merit, Acharya wished everyone a wonderful day.

Tag Archives: Enlightenment

It is All in Our Hands – 37 Practices – Session 14