Your Treasure Is Heart | Tibetan Buddhist Altar

It Really Works: Creating the Causes for Happiness

March 8, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Your Treasure is Heart”

We are really happiest when we are completely surrendering—letting that love, that concern for the welfare of others, that Bodhichitta—be the captain of our ship, instead of that nasty little manipulative self-serving ego that’s running around trying to control everything and making everybody, including ourselves, crazy. We will find that the level of neuroses in our lives begins to go down. And we will find that, lo and behold, just like the Buddha taught, we have really begun to create the causes for happiness. It really works.

There are changes that you’ll go through, changes that I go through constantly, even still. You may find that happiness does not take the form you thought it was going to take, but let me tell you something. I’m forty-six years old. If you have come anywhere near my aged self and haven’t figured out that life is not going to do what you thought it was going to do anyway, then you have been asleep at the wheel! Why not make it work for you? Because nothing is going to take the form you thought it was going to, no matter what you do. Most particularly, if you spend your time trying to control and manipulate others, and if you live a life completely concerned with ego-cherishing, then life really won’t deliver. But hey, figuring that out is all part of growing up. We see that. Your five-year plans, your ten-year plans, forget it. I guess about some aspects of your life you can do that, but you will find that as the Bodhichitta begins to truly manifest in your life, it requires true surrender. And your life will not take the form that you thought it was going to, because this Bodhichitta cannot be controlled. It is not a toy for you to make only you happy. It is the display of that nature that is our ground of being and to which we are all equally entitled and ultimately responsible for. As you begin to taste that nectar, you realize that in all the world, sentient beings are suffering. And in worlds and worlds that we cannot see, sentient beings are suffering; and that we have in our hands, like a precious jewel or a golden key, the means by which some understanding or some help can come to them. So let us now commit our lives and remain absorbed in that kindness, and transform this present life and every future life into a vehicle by which the end of suffering will be brought about and all sentient beings will be liberated.

So this is the teaching, and this is our wish. And I hope from the depth of my heart that each one of you will consider it very carefully and then make the choice for transformation. We hate that word. Transformation is a scary key word. We sort of like it in theory—it sounds so dynamic and powerful. But when, let’s say for instance astrologically, someone says to you, “Well, you know you’re about to go through a major transformation,” we are terrified. Quick, batten down the hatches. Don’t let anything change. But, if you live long enough, you’ll find out that life is going to transform you one way or the other. You will go through transformations. You will go through things. So go through that which will benefit you and all sentient beings.

Do not leave this continent of precious jewels empty handed. When you go into your next life, I hope from the depth of my heart that you have somehow managed to take the nectar from this life and truly internalize it, and enter into your next life nurtured by the power of Bodhichitta.

The Treasure of Bodhicitta: What Does Enter the Bardo

February 26, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Your Treasure is Heart”

The vow of refuge—taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha—is a vow that one must renew every lifetime, but the power of the Bodhisattva Vow is so strong that the power and potency of that vow lives from lifetime to lifetime. If you have taken that vow, you have that vow from now until you cross through the door of liberation into nirvana. And you must pray every day that you will be guided, in this life and in every future life, to meet with the means by which you will be able to practice this great compassion.

Now everything about your life must seem different. The prejudices you had before, about different peoples and different races and different religions and so forth, how can they make sense now? You had ideas about how this person is better than that person because of the class that they’re in, or how one person is superior because of their superior intellect. Having tasted one moment of Bodhicitta you realize that a superior intellect is a fools’ toy in a fools’ world, unless it can be used to bring about that pure absorption. Everything changes, and slowly, slowly so do you. So even if you are that person who begins practicing the Bodhisattvas’ path by saying “I dedicate myself to the liberation and salvation of all sentient beings” (dull, bored and quick) that’s not going to last for long. Accept yourself the way you are. If that’s where you’re starting, start there. It’s a simple truth. Just do it, and don’t make such a big deal about it. That’s a good mantra. Om don’t make a big deal hung phet. Just don’t make a big deal about it. Just start where you are. Gradually over time this will stop and you’ll begin to feel that catch in your throat, that movement, that change that begins to happen.

Of course, there are different ways of beginning practice, different places that each one of you start at, but the rules fundamentally are the same. They are the same. One requires mental discipline in order to truly practice the Bodhicitta. Practice the contemplations. Practice daily mindfulness, and then, in the practice of the repetition of the vow of the Bodhicitta, begin to remain absorbed in this idea, in the reality of the Bodhicitta. Remain absorbed in the stability of mind that one experiences when one is not busy manipulating and grasping. This is real progress on the path, real progress, much more so than talking the dharma talk and walking the dharma walk and doing the dharma routine. Developing a good heart at last. This is real result, and it is lasting.

You won’t be able to take your dharma talk and your dharma rap and your dharma scene and your dharma clothes and your dharma deadly do-rights, or anything that you have accomplished in this lifetime, into the next rebirth. You will not be able to take any of that into the bardo. But a good heart and vajra compassion? Yes, you’ll take that into the next life. And it is one of the main causes for the conditions of your next rebirth. This is valuable. This is your treasure, this heart of the Bodhisattva. It is the first step to a truly happy life.

For Their Sake

February 25, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Your Treasure is Heart”

There is nothing about you that inherently goes towards non-lovingness or lack of concern for others. You are actually the Bodhichitta in your essence, but it is your habitual tendency, karmic cause and effect relationships that bring about habitual tendency, and the weight of that karma that weighs down on one side. Now we’re looking to balance the scales and this kind of meditation changes your habitual tendency so that you find the next time you want to take that Bodhisattva Vow in the context of your practice, magically you’re feeling different. It’s not really an emotional thing, but somewhere inside you sense, you feel, that something has changed. Number one, you have the good feeling of really having invested a great deal of your time in this discipline of meditation for the sake of others. And number two, most importantly, your habitual tendency is starting to change. So next time you say “I dedicate myself to the liberation and salvation of all sentient beings,” you’ll find that as you say that, there’s a catch in your voice and your heart, almost like, “Oh, is it real? Do I feel it? Yes, it’s there.” You’ll know that it’s beginning to take hold in your heart. And when you really feel that deeply, you’ll begin to feel the benefit and happiness associated with this practice.

Now don’t get off on that and get lost in “Oh I’m so happy! Now I’m a great Bodhisattva! Now I can look like a saint! Take out a pint of blood, I’m looking too robust!” Don’t get lost in the concept. Only continue,, continue with the practice for the sake of sentient beings. Do not get lost in the circus. Remember, make it always about them. Ultimately you will come to understand, in maturity in your practice, that your own enlightenment and the enlightenment of others is nondual and equal in weight. Equal in weight. And here’s the real reason why. Even though there are so many more other sentient beings than you or I who are wandering in samsara, one can only bring about temporary or relative benefit as a human being. One cannot bring about extraordinary or ultimate benefit until one actually achieves realization. It is for that reason we are so dedicated to bringing about our own liberation for their sake.

It’s About Them…

February 18, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Your Treasure is Heart”

So where do you start? Exactly where you are. Remember that different people have different experiences. If you’re not sure about that, ask other people. No one knows what another person’s experience has actually been. No one knows how karmic patterns develop into the tapestry that they become. As people engage on the path of the Bodhisattva, each and every one will look a little different. It’s not for you to judge. It’s only for you to begin.

When some people begin to engage in the Bodhisattva meditations, although they’re saying, “I dedicate myself to the liberation and salvation of all sentient beings,” they’re thinking, “I don’t feel like it today. I’m not happy about it, but I know it’s the right thing to do. So I’ll work on it” Another person will say, without thinking about it at all, “Oh, yes, right now I dedicate myself to the liberation and salvation of all sentient beings!!!!” Both are equally ridiculous! Why make a judgment about either one? You can see that’s just the first step. So whatever it looks like, let it be that.

Eventually in maturity there is not so much concern for appearances, not so much concern for how it should be. There is mostly concern for others. Now there’s a new trick. Rather than being concerned about appearances, we are mostly concerned for others. When we were judging ourselves and others for not looking perfect as a Bodhisattva, that’s the part we left out, wasn’t it? It isn’t about how we look. It’s about them. It’s about others.

Thinking in Full Equations

February 14, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Your Treasure is Heart”

It is very important to understand why we practice the Bodhichitta. First, we must examine the Buddha’s four noble truths: All sentient beings are suffering; they are suffering due to desire; there is a cessation of suffering; and the method for the cessation of suffering is presented in the eight-fold path, or as in our tradition, condensed into the path of wisdom and compassion. So we engage in the method for those reasons. Do you see the logic in that? All sentient beings are suffering. They are suffering from desire. However, there is an end to suffering, and this is the method. Characteristic of the Buddha’s teachings. it is logical, because in the Buddhadharma we’re not asked to do anything on blind faith. We’re asked to think it through. Once it seems reasonable, logical and true to us, then we are able to practice because that kind of logical activity is appealing. It seems realistic, and it makes sense to us.

So then the next thing we have to do is examine the thoughts that turn the mind toward Dharma. These thoughts that turn the mind toward Dharma are contemplations. They are interesting, thought-provoking, profound and deep sets of concepts and ideas, that help us to examine the six realms of cyclic existence and all their faults. It is extremely important that we examine them closely so that we can see that cyclic existence is a bit like a drug. We can therefore feel for ourselves how narcotic cyclic existence actually is. We begin to understand that cause and effect is absolutely true in every way within our lives. Literally every experience that we have, or have ever had, has been brought about by a cause that we ourselves created.

Actually, cause and effect relationships arise interdependently. They arise, not separately, but as one. Arising interdependently means that if we have created a cause, then just as surely as anything can be sure, we will live through the effect. Trust me on this. The effect can be modified. It can be delayed. It can be subdued. It can be dealt with effectively through certain kinds of practice, but we will still realize the effect of any cause that we have produced. If you really examine that particular teaching you will learn that virtuous activity, for instance, brings about happiness and good results. Non-virtuous activity, no matter how it looks at first, always brings about unhappiness and suffering. For example, if you stole a car, at first you might have a great time riding around in it, but eventually that event would ruin your life. If not this life, then surely in the future, it would bring about suffering and unhappiness for you, but you wouldn’t know that. Unless you have the training that cause and effect relationships are actually related, you won’t make the connection

Another thing that we learn on the Buddhist path by practicing this is the great skill of thinking in full equations. Do you know that most of the suffering in our life is because we cannot think in full equations? We think like chickens, “Over here this is happening, I’ll do this. Over there that is happening, I’ll do that.” It’s as disconnected as “whatever” to us. We just don’t get it. But the Buddhadharma teaches us to think in full equations.

So now we’re thinking in full equations and we’re turning our minds toward Dharma. This is a necessary step because we have to realize cause and effect relationships in order to really give rise to the Bodhichitta.

You Can Be Exactly Who You Are

February 13, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Your Treasure is Heart”

As westerners, we want to make Bodhichitta about feeling: “Feelings, nothing more than feelings…” You know that song? I wish they’d never written it, because somehow it’s gotten into our consciousness as Americans. We’re singing this tune and believing it, hook, line and sinker.

Here’s a magic golden key: Once we realize that giving rise to the Bodhicitta is not about a feeling,we can be more tolerant with ourselves, more comfortable on the path. We can still consider ourselves practitioners of the Bodhichitta if we’re in a bad mood. Do Bodhisattvas ever get PMS? Yes, they do. I can tell you that for a fact. Do Bodhisattvas ever wake up feeling like they got off on the wrong side of the bed and they are not going to be happy? And they are determined not to be happy? Yes, they do. Do Bodhisattvas ever get sick to death of everything? Yes, they do. Do Bodhisattvas ever wish that everybody in samsara were o.k. and they could just ride off into the sunset and do exactly what they want? Oh Lordy, yes they do! Bodhisattvas feel all of those ways, but they have that practice, that knowledge and that determination.

Once you let go of the idea that compassion is about a certain feeling or appearance or some ridiculous verbiage about love and light, then maybe you can be comfortable on your path. Maybe you can still be a Bodhisattva when you have PMS—because you don’t get time off for that I’m afraid to tell you. Sentient beings are still suffering, whether you have PMS or not. So you become a mature practitioner. Human frailties are human frailties and we all have them. We’re walking around in human bodies with arms and legs and we feel the way we feel. But what has that got to do with the needs of sentient beings? Our determination, therefore, through really studying and practicing in this way (link to yesterday’s teaching), should remain firm and strong.

I have my really bad moments. Yet I have to say that every time I have a bad moment when I just don’t feel like it, I learn to respect and understand the condition of sentient beings. If you didn’t have those feelings once in a while, you wouldn’t even know what you were up against, would you? It’s almost like that’s part of who you are. So be comfortable with that and don’t let it influence how you engage on the path. If anything, let it make you even more determined. It’s o.k. to be exactly who you are and be a Bodhisattva.

True Nature

February 7, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Your Treasure is Heart”

Bodhichitta is, in fact, our nature, as much our nature as Buddhahood. We are, in our nature, this fundamentally compassionate reality. Buddhahood itself has no other capability, other than that of Bodhichitta. Yet it has within itself all potential, unborn, and yet spontaneously complete. This is the great mystery. It cannot be understood in language. Our language betrays us in this way. Even as I speak these words there is probably a little voice in some of your heads that’s saying, “That’s not possible. How can that be so? I haven’t seen it. I haven’t smelled it. I haven’t touched it.” And that’s true, because the five senses are extensions of our ego and they are meant to interpret and measure our egocentric experience about which we already have pre-constructed beliefs.

But Buddhahood has nothing to do with that. Buddhahood is simply the “primordial wisdom ground of being.” It contains all potency, all potential. It is unborn yet spontaneously complete. How can one understand that? Certainly not with the intellect. Eventually, as one moves forward in one’s practice, one comes to understand experientially. And the Bodhichitta is like that too. Within the Bodhichitta is every potential. The Bodhichitta is inseparable from Buddhahood in the same way as the sun’s rays are inseparable from the sun. It is the same essence, the same nature. So within the Bodhichitta that is also our nature, there is all potency, all potential and the Bodhichitta as well. While it is spontaneously accomplished and fully complete, it is as yet unborn.

At first when we begin to understand what Bodhichitta actually is, and put it into our practice, there is a kind of distance and a kind of confusion that naturally occurs. This occurs because we ourselves have not had that experience yet. We have not tasted our nature. We have not tasted what it’s like when the mind remains absorbed and stable in that nature. Yet this is how the Bodhichitta naturally arises. If somehow you could magically remain absorbed in the fully awakened state the way the Buddha is, every activity that you would engage in, every interaction with any sentient being that you would have, would naturally be completely in accordance with the Bodhichitta. So the teachings that we have from the path of Dharma, from the Buddha himself, tell us that, in fact, if (now this is the big if) one has attained enlightenment, if one has attained this precious awakening, then all of one’s activities from that time forward are naturally that of the Bodhichitta, no matter what they look like.

What Is Bodhicitta?

February 6, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Your Treasure is Heart”

Bodhicitta is the one subject that is taught from the first moment that one enters onto the path until the last moment before one really engages in completion stage practice. It is a primary and necessary fundamental foundational meditation, an absorption that one should remain in from the first moment upon hearing the Dharma to the last moment before one actually enters into nirvana. There should never be a moment when the the idea of Bodhicitta is not part of your life and part of your heart.

So what is Bodhicitta? Bodhicitta means the “great awakening,” and it has to do with the awakening mind. The Bodhisattva, one who is engaged in the practice of Bodhicitta, is one who is an awakening being. The Bodhisattvas take a vow by which they do not actually go into Buddhahood. They move further and further along what are called the bhumis, or steps, further and further into this precious state of awakening. Upon taking the Bodhisattva Vow, remaining fully absorbed in that vow, and beginning to accomplish that vow, one then begins to enter the first bhumi which is a very major step, a very major accomplishment. Then from the first bhumi one goes to the second, third, fourth, fifth, and so on, and at the tenth bhumi one is then able to step very easily into full Buddhahood. However, the Bodhisattva who is on the tenth bhumi holds back and does not take that final step in order to remain in the world for the sake of sentient beings: appearing in a form that is of benefit to sentient beings, and being able to teach and guide them.

So we are practicing and studying this Bodhicitta which is so precious and so important. Many of the religions in the world have the idea of compassion. That idea of compassion is stated in various ways, but in the Buddhadharma, it is not only one of the teachings, it is considered to be one of the two main legs of the path of the Buddhadharma. There is the wisdom and the Bodhicitta, wisdom and compassion. So these are the two legs of the path. It is considered that if one cannot accomplish compassion, if one cannot accomplish the Bodhicitta, then whatever else one is doing on the path amounts to very little. Bodhicitta is the cornerstone, the key. It is the essence of development. The Bodhicitta is the practice of compassion, when it is seen in a relative environment, such as this earth, filled with materialistic view and material phenomena. In this world of duality and relativity, when we think of Bodhicitta, we think of it as a practice in order to attain. But actually in truth, Bodhicitta is the very display or essence, the nature of the ground of our being.

Buddha is not just a historical man that lived a long time ago. Buddhas are not just the little statues, some of them fat little guys and some of them fancy guys. Buddha is our nature and can be considered the primordial ground of being. It is that essence, suchness, which is very difficult to describe. In fact, once one describes the nature of Buddhahood, then one has actually left the nature of Buddhahood. It cannot be described in such a way that one remains stable in the view of Buddhahood because once conceptualization and discrimination actually occur, then the meaning of Buddhahood is changed. So, ultimately, Buddhahood can only be understood in one’s meditation practice.

The closest we can come is to describe Buddhahood as being the fundamental ground of being. It is neither empty nor full. It is both and it is neither. It is neither silent nor filled with sound. It is both and it is neither. It is neither form nor formless. It is both, and yet neither. Buddhahood is that ultimate mystery that cannot be described in terminology that we understand because our terminology requires duality. It requires us to separate ourselves from that which we describe as though we were an audience. It requires us to discriminate and conceptualize. Discrimination and conceptualization are not in accordance with a true view of Buddhahood, because when one realizes and gives rise to that precious awakened state called Buddhahood, one cannot detect any separation. One cannot determine definition. One cannot judge where one thing ends and another thing begins. If we were to view from the fully awakened state that the Buddha was in when he described himself as being awake, we would not be able to determine where one being ended and another being began. That whole concept would be lost in the state of Buddhahood.

We think of Bodhicitta as the practice of compassion that we should attain to. We only have that idea because we are in a fundamentally deluded state, in a separated state, believing that self and other are in fact separate, believing that relative view and the view of Buddhahood are somehow separate. So that’s how we view Bodhicitta, as some thing that we do, some thing that we practice, but in fact the Bodhicitta is the very breath, or first movement or display or dance of the Buddha nature. If the Buddha nature is like the sun, radiant in every conceivable way, then the Bodhicitta can be considered like the rays of the sun. The rays of the sun cannot occur without the sun in the same way that Bodhicitta cannot occur without Buddhahood. In the same way, the sun does not occur without its rays; therefore Buddhahood does not occur without Bodhicitta. These two are inseparable. They cannot be determined as separate in any way, shape, manner or form other than through the dialogue of confusion, which is how we talk—language based on separation and delusion.

Mindfulness and Compassion: A Meditation on Bodhicitta in Everyday Life

June 23, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Your Treasure is Heart”

There are many different ways that one can actually engage and begin to train the mind as a Bodhisattva. Actually, as a Bodhisattva the goal is to make every aspect of one’s life a vehicle for the benefit for others. So, what would that look like? Well, what about the ordinary things that you do? Westerners have all these different elements in their lives, divided into sections, pigeon holes. There’s the holy part, and there’s the ordinary part. There’s your regular personality and the way you are to your husband, wife, kids, in-laws, and all those people that know you better than anybody. There’s another part of your life where you’re out on the street, and people get to see you with your street-face on. And then there’s the personal part. You go to the bathroom and all those kinds of things. There’s the intellectual part, the part that goes to the movies, and the part that exercises. There are all these different parts, and because we’re so deluded, none of them seems to have much relationship to each other. It’s like we’re juggling cats all the time.

One of the things that you have to do as a Bodhisattva is to make your entire life a basket, a vehicle for this compassion. But how do you do that? Well, there are these walking mindfulness meditations that you can do that are extremely beneficial. If you find yourself moving into a depression or some sort of negative mood, if you really try to practice some sort of absorption with them, they’ll pull you right out of it, It’s very simple. You don’t have to sit down and do the “holy” thing. You don’t even have to put on your dharma clothes, pick up your pretty beads, or wear your particular medallions showing that you’re cool. You don’t have to do any of that. All you have to do is, oh, I don’t know, let’s say, eat lunch. As you’re eating lunch, you would pick up a spoonful of the food and you would say a quiet, loving prayer, a heart-felt wish, “As I take this nourishment into my body, may all sentient beings be nourished by the light and power of Bodhichitta. As I take this drink into my body, may all sentient beings be watered and nurtured by the nectar of dharma.” As you walk through the door, “May the suffering of all sentient beings be ended by the virtue of my walking through this door. May they be led through the door of liberation.” It’s a constant mindfulness meditation. As I walk down the street, “May all sentient beings walk down the path to liberation.” In the car while looking at a map trying to find these crazy Washington streets and where they go, “By the virtue of this activity, may all sentient beings receive the proper guidance and direction by which they can accomplish dharma and be free.”

So you have a choice with everything that you engage in. You can be looking at the map and cussing like a trooper, hating the way D.C. is laid out with those weird tunnels, or you can be utilizing the opportunity. You’re going to be looking at the map and finding your street anyway. So instead of getting into a bad mood, perhaps you could use that as an opportunity to understand that all sentient beings are directionless and hungry for direction. A small prayer at that moment that all sentient beings be guided on the path to liberation is appropriate and beneficial. It organizes your mind and thought. Mindfulness becomes so profound and so clarified that almost anything that you’re doing at that time is better, happier. It takes on more meaning. The mind is more clear, less filled with the kinds of hyper-emotions that make us crazy and confused.

Turn everything into that kind of meditation, that kind of consideration for the well-being of others. Everything. “As I ascend the staircase, may all sentient beings ascend into the true meaning of dharma.” You’re free to make up your own prayer concerning the welfare of sentient beings. It doesn’t have to be my prayer. Make up your own. If you constantly walk around like that, you’ll find that you are changing in some subtle way that you can’t understand. You have less bad moods, less depression, less frequent overwhelming concern with your ego to the point where you are busy doing nothing but manipulating everything and everybody around you in order that they will get it right for you, which is pretty much how we live. That kind of thing begins to change and you’re less concerned with manipulating everything and everyone around you in order to get what you want. You spend less time accomplishing the great mantra of “gimme gimme gimme iwant iwant iwant hung phat!” And you are more concerned with the welfare of others. Something inside of you begins to change. Remember, our habitual tendency is so strongly biased toward ego cherishing that we really have to spend a lot of time putting something in the pile of concern for others in order to bring the mind back into some kind of balance. This kind of meditation really brings about that kind of balance, and your habit begins to change.

Moods, Bodhicitta and Mental Discipline

June 15, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching called “Your Treasure is Heart”

In order to understand how mental discipline will help you feel more compassionate, you need to understand that compassion is not an emotion. Bodhichitta is not an emotion. It doesn’t exist on that dense a level. It’s not as dense as an emotion. Emotions are actually reactions. If you take perception, delusion, duality, confusion, hatred, greed and ignorance, all of those things that are characteristic of samsara, and you shake them up in a jar, the bubbles that you would get, like the bubbles from soap, are roughly the equivalent of emotions. Emotions are the result of conceptual proliferation, whipped up into a very exaggerated state. They are reactive. Bodhichitta really has nothing to do with that.

When we begin to give rise to the Bodhichitta, we do so, first of all, through mental discipline. As we begin to practice, we have some understanding of the suffering of sentient beings and why we should engage in loving concern for them. When we examine the thoughts that turn the mind, we really tune into the sufferings of samsara. We tune in, as well, to the fact that we have lived so many lifetimes that literally anyone that we can see, or see a picture of, or hear or think of has been our own kind parent in some previous life. Yet these beings are wandering in samsara just like a bee that’s caught in a jar, absolutely clueless as to how to create the causes by which their terrible suffering might end.

Once you learn that, you discipline your mind not to ignore it. We like to surf on the sensual pleasure of the moment. We like to enjoy, and try to get as high in our daily routine as possible, so we can just surf on the moment of experience. We don’t want to think about the condition of sentient beings. So this mental discipline is required in order to be a serious practitioner. You can’t cut corners here. If you don’t put in the time, your practice will never be up to snuff.

Many students come to me saying “Well, I just don’t feel this compassion.” My answer is, so what! Compassion is not an emotion. Nobody is going to benefit by how you feel. They’re going to benefit by what you do. So do the practice. Discipline yourself to contemplate the causes and conditions of both happiness and suffering; and particularly contemplate the suffering of sentient beings, These contemplations cannot be short-circuited. They must be delved into with everything you have. Once you do that you begin to feel a certain kind of determination and motivation, and it begins to make sense.

When I was 20, I had not met with the path of Dharma yet, but I was actually given these contemplations directly in my own meditation and in the dream state. So I began to practice them. What happened to me was I realized that compassion is the only thing that makes sense. Think about the logic of it. Here you are, one sentient being on our planet where in the human realm alone, there are roughly six billion of us. On our planet there are also uncountable animal forms. You can’t even count the number of ants in an ant hill. Each one of them is a sentient being with the Buddha nature within them, just as surely as you are, yet they appear in this form due to their own habitual tendency and the way that their consciousness is functioning. How many uncountable sentient beings can be seen with the eye on this planet alone!

If this absolute Buddha nature, this ground of being, is my nature, and you are that also, and yet we appear in these multitudinous forms, wandering and suffering in samsara, it made perfect sense to me to dedicate my life to the liberation and salvation of all sentient beings. Nothing else seemed logical or reasonable. And from that, gradually, this determination grew. For about ten months, I went through the mental discipline. I practiced for eight to ten hours a day only on those contemplations until I could see clearly for myself that this is the only game in town that made sense. With that knowledge, living any other kind of life seemed like whoring or prostitution to me, and it didn’t seem reasonable. So my discrimination was born.

In the Buddha’s teachings we are told that there are three thousand myriads of universes, three thousand myriads of universes. That’s just one number that gives us some understanding that we’re talking big! The Buddha also teaches us that there are formless realms, and there are uncountable sentient beings in these formless realms. So logically, if my nature is this Buddha nature, completely inseparable from the very Lord that I call Buddha, completely inseparable and indistinguishable from all these sentient beings, it is logical and reasonable that I would do everything that I can to bring benefit to others instead of spending my entire life in ego-gratification and self-cherishing. It is logical and reasonable also to me, that I will never be happy until every sentient being is free. That’s what seems reasonable to me.

Once you have that kind of understanding, you have to go through the process of reminding yourself, keeping it alive every step of the way. If any of you have been married, you know that taking the vow is not the end of the issue. If you want to remain in that situation, you really have to work at it. Giving rise to the Bodhichitta is like that . The effort doesn’t stop once you come to the great conclusion. You have to remind yourself every day. It’s part of the discipline of practice so that you remain mindful. On the path of Dharma these contemplations are crucial.

So this is how it starts. It starts in mental discipline which gives rise to determination. Where’s the emotion in all that? Emotions become inconsequential. Once you realize that there are six billion humans, that you know of, wandering in samsara, not understanding how to create the causes of happiness, whether you have gas at that moment or are in a good or a bad mood, those kinds of things become a moot point. You learn that it’s OK to be a Bodhisattva in a bad mood. But you don’t get to stop, you see, because you’ve learned something.