Love puts the care in compassion

by Gelek Rimpoche

Becoming Buddha doesn’t mean doing little mystical things in some kind of holy state. It is also not a very specific Buddhist goal. It is known as total enlightenment, total knowledge.

I said quite often, we can see that when we learn something more that we are capable of learning and we can learn and improve. So, there is still something more to learn. But at total knowledge, there is no more to go. It is total perfection, from the quality point of view, from the knowledge point of view. Total information is maintained. You not only have all the information, all the information is current information, not outdated. That is what Buddhahood is all about. So if you want to make Buddhahood into a mystical thing, then yes, you could, but if you de-mystify that, then it is not only reserved for Buddhists but for everybody. That’s very simple and interesting.

Can we ever reach such a state? They keep on saying that you can, and that all the past buddhas have done so, and all the bodhisattvas, those who are committed to be buddhas, are going to be. The bodhisattvas are sort of like the Prince of Wales, who will one day become king – or maybe not, in his case. But, he is supposed to become king. Technically, those who are to become buddhas, are called bodhisattvas, those who are on the way, and confirmed to become buddhas. In reality, they are those who are going to totally improve themselves. So, it is such an important thing. It really needs the best ever possible motivation, which is unlimited, unconditional, ultimate love and compassion. Again, that is called in Sanskrit bodhicitta. "Citta," means heart or mind. In English many people call it bodhimind, in other words, a mind that seeks Buddhahood, with the commitment of helping all beings, not for one’s self-purpose, but the purpose for all. That is A-L-L. That means all beings. The most difficult here, is what in Tibetan is called, "pak pei zhen je pa," considering others’ needs more superior to my own personal needs. Such a state of mind is what we can simply talk about, but if we really try to practice and have it, it is almost impossible, because our addiction to self, and our self-cherishing is so severe. Others’ needs being more important than mine, is unimaginable, unless you are in love, in very deep love. Then, we may be able to think or talk about it.

Other than that, “my” is total priority. Not only that, we say that, “if I don’t take care of myself, who else will?” That is true, however, what we need is not it. Having my needs as lesser priority and lesser importance than the needs of others is not easy. You really need strong love. Love will do the trick. So that’s why I said the other day, that equality is like the ground. Love is like moisture. If you want to grow food, you need the proper ground, which has enough earth energy and moisture. If there is no moisture, then no matter what seed you put down in the middle of the dust will never grow. If the ground is not good, it will not grow. Even if it grows, it will be very weak. Good ground is the equality. If you want to consider others’ needs as more important, then at least there should be the understanding of equality. My needs, your needs are equal.

Equality is not difficult to understand in the west, because we are supposed to be based on the principle of democracy. Equality today is also almost lip service today for us, rather than a true consideration. But people do accept it easily in principle, because we believe in it and it is our democratic principle. Then the moisture will be the love.

Without love, there will never be such care or concern. Forget your needs being more important than mine. At least caring for you, and having respect. We talk about human rights and human respect. We are very good at talking, and at pointing the finger at someone making a mistake on that. But, if we look at our own attitude with dealing with other people, how much human rights do we consider? That’s very questionable. I am not saying we don’t have it. Many of us do and many of us don’t. But, it is important for us to look. Without respect, there could never be appreciation. Without appreciation, there can never be admiration. Without admiration, there can never be the desire to become, or be like the person. Love is not only appreciation, but the appreciation is so much, that you will also like to be that. You will like to be that.

Even if you don’t want to be like that, you will be able to tolerate that. It is not bugging you all the time. It is not irritating you all the time. If you are looking at it, acceptable becomes appreciation, and that becomes admirable, and that becomes the desire to be. This is our mental improvement from the love and compassion point of view. Yes, we need to talk about compassion, but compassion without love will be very, very dry, academic. You can talk about it but you don’t have the proper moisture that somehow merges within our mind.