From Tricycle and Mangala Shri Bhuti:
Falling in Love with Sentient Beings
Posted on January 17, 2011 by MSB
Taipei, Taiwan
An excerpt from Rinpoche’s on-going Lojong teachings at the Dan An Mangalam Dharma Center, in Taipei, on the Forth Point of Chekawa Yeshe Dorje’s Lojong slogans, the “Five Strengths”:
The Power of Motivation
Motivation gives you drive and this drives gets you to where you want to go. A strong drive enables you to reach your destiny that much quicker, faster, without being stalled or inconsistent. This drive comes from passion, a passion generated by your strong motivation to transform your mind through the practice of bodhicitta, and remove all your internal suffering through the blessings of bodhicitta.
Bodhcitta clears away all your internal afflicting emotions and the suffering they produce, and brings your mind to a state of deep peace. Bodhicitta practice will increase all the qualities of the mind that you admire in great beings such as Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and even ordinary people who have some good qualties; these qualities will be those of bodhicitta. So you know that only through bodhicitta practice may you obtain these qualities in yourself.
Whenever we are touched by someone else’s demeanor or behavior, it’s because of their bodhcitta or good heart; it’s same with ourselves, when we are moved by our own mind. We are never touched by anyone if they are being simply and absolutely anti-bodhicitta! Nor will afflicting emotions ever make us happy or proud of ourselves.
So we get motivated to invest ourselves 100% in the practice of the bodhcitta, and know that only it can bring our internal pain, afflictions, and suffering down, and create a state of peace; not only that, we will gather much joy to extend ourselves to others, and progress on the spiritual path. In that way we must be an advocate of bodhicitta practice. And do it as the main practice of our life.
Any type of bodhicitta practice we do, whether it’s the Four Immeasurables, relative tonglen, or absolute meditation on the emptiness-nature of one’s mind — will always function in two ways:
To decrease one’s self-centeredness, and
to increase a love of others in one’s heart.
How far or how close you keep your distance with mother sentient beings, that’s up to you and what’s appropriate. But, you cannot stop having a sense of deep love for sentient beings and deep care for sentient beings, if you really want to not suffer yourself, and also contribute something, and progress on the spiritual path.
So, secretly you have to fall in love with all mother sentient beings.
What is so significant about the emotion of falling in love? When we are in love, we can’t stop thinking about the person whom we have fallen in love with; constantly we think how to cater to one’s love’s needs; how to make them happy; how to attend to one’s love’s concerns; how to add to their own strength and ability to clear away their suffering.
So in this strong emotion, you kind of forget about yourself. That has an aphrodisiac-like quality; it makes you incredibly high. Also a lot of courage comes up inside. What you before never imagined you were capable of doing, let alone for others, even for yourself!, you begin to have courage to do it so. That’s because your self-centeredness at that moment goes down, therefore courage is able to come up.
I always think that the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, like ordinary people falling in love,are themselves always in love with sentient beings. In that state, they can’t even think of themselves; they don’t even see the point of doing that at all.
My teacher Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, for example, when he was able to do something small, medium or large for sentient beings, he was so happy, a happiness without compare, especially in relation to the times when people praised him, or did something for him. Just so with HH Dalai Lama as well.
That exhuberant joy we see in the face, eyes and presence of the great masters comes from always being deeply in love with sentient beings. So that is the first of the five strengths: to fully engage oneself in the practice of bodhicitta.
Falling in Love with Sentient Beings
Posted on January 17, 2011 by MSB
Taipei, Taiwan
An excerpt from Rinpoche’s on-going Lojong teachings at the Dan An Mangalam Dharma Center, in Taipei, on the Forth Point of Chekawa Yeshe Dorje’s Lojong slogans, the “Five Strengths”:
The Power of Motivation
Motivation gives you drive and this drives gets you to where you want to go. A strong drive enables you to reach your destiny that much quicker, faster, without being stalled or inconsistent. This drive comes from passion, a passion generated by your strong motivation to transform your mind through the practice of bodhicitta, and remove all your internal suffering through the blessings of bodhicitta.
Bodhcitta clears away all your internal afflicting emotions and the suffering they produce, and brings your mind to a state of deep peace. Bodhicitta practice will increase all the qualities of the mind that you admire in great beings such as Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and even ordinary people who have some good qualties; these qualities will be those of bodhicitta. So you know that only through bodhicitta practice may you obtain these qualities in yourself.
Whenever we are touched by someone else’s demeanor or behavior, it’s because of their bodhcitta or good heart; it’s same with ourselves, when we are moved by our own mind. We are never touched by anyone if they are being simply and absolutely anti-bodhicitta! Nor will afflicting emotions ever make us happy or proud of ourselves.
So we get motivated to invest ourselves 100% in the practice of the bodhcitta, and know that only it can bring our internal pain, afflictions, and suffering down, and create a state of peace; not only that, we will gather much joy to extend ourselves to others, and progress on the spiritual path. In that way we must be an advocate of bodhicitta practice. And do it as the main practice of our life.
Any type of bodhicitta practice we do, whether it’s the Four Immeasurables, relative tonglen, or absolute meditation on the emptiness-nature of one’s mind — will always function in two ways:
To decrease one’s self-centeredness, and
to increase a love of others in one’s heart.
How far or how close you keep your distance with mother sentient beings, that’s up to you and what’s appropriate. But, you cannot stop having a sense of deep love for sentient beings and deep care for sentient beings, if you really want to not suffer yourself, and also contribute something, and progress on the spiritual path.
So, secretly you have to fall in love with all mother sentient beings.
What is so significant about the emotion of falling in love? When we are in love, we can’t stop thinking about the person whom we have fallen in love with; constantly we think how to cater to one’s love’s needs; how to make them happy; how to attend to one’s love’s concerns; how to add to their own strength and ability to clear away their suffering.
So in this strong emotion, you kind of forget about yourself. That has an aphrodisiac-like quality; it makes you incredibly high. Also a lot of courage comes up inside. What you before never imagined you were capable of doing, let alone for others, even for yourself!, you begin to have courage to do it so. That’s because your self-centeredness at that moment goes down, therefore courage is able to come up.
I always think that the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, like ordinary people falling in love,are themselves always in love with sentient beings. In that state, they can’t even think of themselves; they don’t even see the point of doing that at all.
My teacher Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, for example, when he was able to do something small, medium or large for sentient beings, he was so happy, a happiness without compare, especially in relation to the times when people praised him, or did something for him. Just so with HH Dalai Lama as well.
That exhuberant joy we see in the face, eyes and presence of the great masters comes from always being deeply in love with sentient beings. So that is the first of the five strengths: to fully engage oneself in the practice of bodhicitta.
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