Aspirational Bodhicitta | Tibetan Buddhist Altar

Daily Wishing Prayers

April 11, 2018 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

An excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo from the Vow of Love series
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Having understood that all sentient beings are suffering, and having cultivated in your mind the aspiration of Bodhicitta, you should make fervent wishing prayers, constant wishing prayers. My teachers have told me that time and again great Bodhisattvas have been born in India and Tibet and their practice was not that extensive. They were not very educated in their practice; they were very simple people. But they were known in their previous incarnation for the heart-felt wishing prayers that they made. Because of the depth to which they desired to benefit beings, and through the force of their prayers alone, they were reborn in a form in which they could benefit a great many beings. So those prayers are exquisite.

Wishing prayers are important. They should be done in the morning and they should be done in the evening. They should be done every moment that you can be mindful of them. Make fervent prayers in your mind and your heart that you will, in this lifetime, benefit many beings and end their suffering. And that in all future lifetimes you will be reborn in a form in which you can benefit beings so that they might achieve enlightenment and have their suffering ended. Make prayers to cultivate in yourself that mind of enlightenment and to cultivate in yourself the pure intention to achieve enlightenment in order to benefit beings. That is the aspirational Bodhicitta, or practice of compassion.

The Buddha’s Point of View

April 9, 2018 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

An excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo from the Vow of Love series

According to the Buddha’s teaching all sentient beings have experienced suffering and continue to suffer. We have old age, sickness and death. We don’t know what to do about them. We get run over by cars and all kinds of crazy things happen to us on a regular basis. The Buddha teaches us the only way to end suffering is to achieve enlightenment. Once we achieve enlightenment, the very root causes that produce suffering, the seeds of karma within our mind, are eradicated.

We want to achieve enlightenment in order to attain happiness for all beings. That is the reason we enter the spiritual path and really pursue it in a determined fashion. If we were to look past the level of our mind that is constantly developing new and wonderful concepts, we would find that there is a basic primordial natural state. That natural state, free of conceptualization, that suchness, is the very fabric that is the mother of all phenomena, including your own self. The natural primordial nature that cannot be described is your nature and it is everyone’s nature and it is the same nature; there is no point at which you can divide it. When you divide it you start believing in self-nature or the ego structure. At that point, you are not experiencing the primordial state any longer.

The truth of the matter is, there is only that natural state. It is free of conceptualization, it is self-luminous, it is all-embracing, it is pure, and it remains and will always be undefiled. That is the natural state. If we are all one in that way – if that is what truly exists – then it is not possible for us to be separate. The Bodhisattva’s or the Buddha’s point of view is that I cannot achieve enlightenment without you. I cannot. Because that which I truly am is the same as you. If I separate myself from you, I’ve missed the point somehow. It is as important for all sentient beings to achieve enlightenment and to be free of suffering as it is for me and for you, individually, to accomplish that.

Thus the idea of compassion becomes more than an idea. It becomes the basis or the foundation of enlightenment. It becomes the only thing with meaning. That being the case, we must think about the ways in which compassion or Bodhicitta are practiced. There are two levels of Bodhicitta. There is aspirational Bodhicitta or aspirational compassion, and there is practical compassion.

Aspirational Bodhicitta is just as it sounds. It is the aspiring to compassion, or the wishing for compassionate activity. You should not think that because it is only wishing it is not precious and valuable. It is absolutely precious and valuable because it is the kind of contemplation that provides the basis or foundation on which you build your ability to practice practical compassion.

To What Do You Aspire?

December 6, 2015 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

An excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo from the Vow of Love series

In the Vajrayana tradition one contemplates very deeply on certain thoughts before you ever go on to any deeper practice, and these thoughts are called the ‘Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind.’ The idea is that your mind becomes turned in such a way that your intention to practice is firm, like a rock. If you were wishy-washy about why you should practice meditation, your meditation will be wishy-washy. There’s no doubt about it. If you were convinced that your job could bring you more eternal and natural happiness than enlightenment, you would practice your job with greater fervor than you would practice enlightenment. Therefore you try to turn your mind so that it has a firm foundation, hard as a rock, upon which you can build your practice.

It’s that way with aspirational Bodhicitta. You have to turn your mind in such a way that you understand the value of compassion and you have to actually ignite your mind. You have to set it on fire, and that fire has to be stronger and hotter and fiercer than any other feeling or idea that you have. It has to burn so strongly that you can’t put it out.

In order to practice aspirational Bodhicitta, you must first of all look around you with courage. Because we Americans, even New Age Americans, don’t like to look around and see that others are suffering. We hate to think about that. We think somehow it’s bad to think like that. According to the Buddha, it isn’t bad to think like that. In fact, you must think like that in order to go on to the next level of practice. You must look around you and be honest and be courageous. If you don’t see suffering in your life, if you don’t know that the people around you are lonely or getting old or getting sick, that they live with worry and with fear, then what you need to do is go to the library and check out books about other cultures and other forms of life, and see what the rest of the world is like. Have you ever seen pictures of Calcutta, India? Have you ever seen pictures of Bangladesh? Have you ever seen pictures of Africa? If you don’t believe that suffering exists in the world, you’ll see it there. Have you ever studied the lives of people who continually do non-virtuous activity? Even though they might look like they’re tough and in control, they are deeply suffering. It behooves you to be courageous enough to examine that. You should look at other life forms. You should look at animals. You should look and see how oxen are treated in India. I speak of India a lot, not because it’s a bad place, but because I’ve been there, and I was shocked. I had no idea how sheltered Americans are from suffering. I had no idea until I saw lepers in the street with no limbs and with open sores.

Having studied these things, you will come to understand that there is suffering in the world. You should cultivate in your heart and mind a feeling of great compassion. You shouldn’t stop until you’ve come to the point that you are on fire and you cannot bear that they are suffering so much. The Buddha says that we have had so many incarnations in so many different forms that every being you see, every one, has been your mother or your father. Whether you believe that or not, it’s a great way to think. Because you look at other beings and see how they are suffering helplessly, with no way to get out of it. And that they, at one time, had given you birth. In that way, you can come to love them in a way that you can practice for them.

You should allow yourself to become so filled with the urgency to practice loving that your heart is on fire and there’s no other subject that interests you as much. Even if it’s uncomfortable; we Americans think we should never be uncomfortable. Sometimes discomfort is very useful. Be uncomfortable and let yourself ache with the need to practice Bodhicitta. Cultivate in yourself that urgency and that determination. You might get to the point where you feel something, and you feel sort of sorry for all sentient beings. You might think, “Okay, now I’ve got it. I’ll go on to the next step.” No, you haven’t got it. You should cultivate compassion from this moment until you reach supreme enlightenment.

Unless they are supremely enlightened no one is born with the perfect mind of compassion. I, and everyone I teach and everyone I know, including my teachers, practice aspirational Bodhicitta everyday, reminding ourselves that all sentient beings suffer unbearably and that we find it unbearable to see. You should continue to cultivate compassion every moment of your life. It will begin to burn in your heart. It’s like love. It’s beautiful. You won’t want ever to be without that divine fire in your heart. It will warm you as no other love can. It will stabilize your mind as no other practice can.

Why Enlightenment Matters

September 15, 2014 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

After practicing Aspirational Bodhicitta, you will move into Practical Bodhicitta. Practical Bodhicitta is where one actually attempts and begins actually to develop the technology or method by which the cessation of suffering can be brought about.

Again, back to the foundational teachings of the Buddha: The Buddha teaches us that the sufferings that we see and think we understand the causes for are only symptomatic of a deeper suffering; and that deeper suffering is actually the faults of cyclic existence. These are the real sufferings: Impermanence; the fact that cyclic existence has nothing inherent within it that leads to the end of suffering. These things are the faults of cyclic existence.

Having understood the faults of cyclic existence, we must then think what the Buddha has told us: Only enlightenment brings about the cessation of suffering. And to carry that further, only an enlightened being, and ultimately a supremely realized being, can truly bring about the end of suffering. So you have to consider Practical Bodhicitta in more than one way. You must actually consider that you wish to accomplish whatever means will bring about the cessation of suffering for all sentient beings: whatever practices will bring about the end of suffering; whatever methods. You have to employ these methods; but you must also think that your own enlightenment then becomes significant. Even if you are thinking only of sentient beings—and that is the proper motivation—even if you are thinking only of motherly sentient beings and their suffering and not thinking of your own suffering so much, if you have come to that profound level of Aspiration Bodhicitta because of entering into the phase of Practical Bodhicitta and the need for you to accomplish enlightenment in order to lead other beings to enlightenment, then one’s own enlightenment becomes significant. And that is the real reason why one’s own enlightenment becomes significant. Yes, it’s true that each of us wishes to be free of suffering. But from the point of view of Bodhicitta, the proper motivation for practice then is the cessation of suffering for all sentient beings.

An excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Bodhicitta”

Traditional Bodhisattva Vow Ceremony

March 30, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Traditional Bodhisattva Vow Ceremony

The King of Noble Prayers Aspiring to the Deeds of Excellent Conduct

Homage to the ever-youthful Arya Mañjushri!

Whoever dwells in the ten directions of this world, Jambhudvipa,

The Sugatas of the three times who are the lions among men,

To all of them without exception,

I bow down with devotion from my body, speech and mind.

By the strength of this prayer for excellent conduct,

And with a direct perception of all the Victorious Ones,

Wherever they dwell, with bodies as numberless as atomic particles,

I prostrate with reverence to each and every one of them.

Upon each atom there exists as many Buddhas as atoms are present,

With the Bodhisattvas seated in the middle of them all.

In this way the entire sphere of absolute reality, without exception,

Is imagined to be completely consumed by all the Victorious Ones.

Rendering praise to this inexhaustible ocean-like assembly,

With oceans of the sound of melodious voices,

The noble enlightened qualities of all the Conquerors are acknowledged.

I render praise to all the Sugatas.

Excellent garlands of magnificent flowers,

Instrumentation, potions and the best of parasols,

Splendid butter lamps and sacred incense,

All of this is offered to the Victors.

The finest of garments and superior perfumes,

And bundles of powders that equal Sumeru,

This magnificent array of the finest and best of them all

Is presented to and offered to all of those who are Victorious.

Whatever is offered is unsurpassed in vastness

And directed with utmost devotion for all the Buddhas,

As well as the strength and faith of this prayer for excellent conduct,

Paying homage to all the Buddhas, these offerings are made.

Overpowered by desire, anger and delusion,

With my body, my speech and similarly with my mind,

Whatever negativity that I have amassed

I confess individually and entirely.

All the Victoious Ones of the ten directions and their heirs,

The Solitary Realizers and those on the Path of Learning and No More Learning,

As well of the merit of each and every sentient being without exception,

I fully rejoice in all such accumulations.

All those who illuminate the world systems of the ten directions,

Who have attained Buddhahood and freedom from attachment through the stages of Enlightenment,

I implore all those Protectors

To turn the peerless wheel of the Dharma.

All those who intend to enter Nirvana

For the purpose of bringing benefit and bliss to all beings,

For as many aeons as there are particles of dust on earth,

With palms pressed together I beseech you to remain in the world.

By paying homage, making offerings, confession and

Rejoicing, requesting and beseeching,

Whatever virtue I have gained through these efforts,

I dedicate it all to the Enlightenment of all beings.

Lord Buddha Shakyamuni, all the Buddhas and

All the Bodhisattvas who dwell on the tenth bhumi,

All the great Vajra Master Spiritual Mentors,

Please turn your attention towards me.

REFUGE VOWS:

Until the heart of Enlightenment is realized,

I take Refuge in all the Buddhas.

In the Dharma and the Bodhisattvas,

As well as their assemblies, similarly I go for Refuge.

(Repeat refuge vows above 3X)

BODHISATTVA VOWS

Just as the Sugatas of the past

Have aroused the Awakened Mind Bodhicitta

And trained in the way of the Bodhisattvas

To gradually accomplish the stages of development,

Similarly for the benefit and purpose of beings,

By awakening the Bodhicitta

And training in the conduct of the Bodhisattvas,

I shall gradually develop the levels of training.

(Repeat Bodhicitta vows above 3X)

Today I have picked the fruit of this lifetime;

The meaning of this human existence is now realized.

Today I am reborn in the family of the Buddhas,

And have become an heir of the Enlightened Ones!

Now no matter what occurs hereafter,

My activities will be in conscientious accordance with the family,

And I shall never engage in conduct that could

Possibly sully this faultless family.

Like a blind man in a heap of refuse

Suddenly by chance finding a precious jewel,

Similarly, this occasion is such

That today I have given rise to the Awakened Mind.

Today before all of my objects of Refuge,

All beings and all those who have Gone Beyond,

I call to bear witness as the guests of this occasion,

Where all Devas, Titans and others join together to rejoice.

The precious Bodhicitta,

If unborn, may it arise,

If generated, may it never diminish,

And may it remain ever-increasing.

Never apart from the Bodhicitta,

Absorbed in the conduct of the Awakened Ones,

And being held fast by all the Buddhas,

May all demonic activities be fully abandoned.

May all the Bodhisattvas

Accomplish their altruistic intention to fulfill the needs of beings.

Whatever intention these Protectors may have,

May it occur for the purpose of those beings it is directed towards.

May all sentient beings know authentic bliss.

May all the lower realms be permanently emptied.

And may all the Bodhisattvas on whatever stage they remain

Fully accomplish all of their aspirations!