Bodhicitta And Wisdom

by Khöndung Gyana Vajra Rinpoche

Manjushri is the emanation of all the Buddhas’ wisdom. Wisdom is the antidote to ignorance, which is the main affliction that keeps us in samsara, along with desire and anger. And so wisdom is of infinite importance, because it is what can liberate us from the suffering of samsara.

Samsara is composed of six realms, three of which are the lower realms and the other three the higher realms. The lower realms comprise the hell realm, the hungry ghost realm and the animal realm; all three are pervaded by unbearable suffering.

Beings in the hell realms continually experience horrifying pain, being burned in molten lava in the hot hells or being frozen and shattered in the cold hells, carved by razors, or having parts of their body devoured. These unendurable conditions go on for endless periods of time until their negative karma has been exhausted. The hungry ghosts relentlessly suffer unendurable hunger and thirst, unable to even slightly alleviate their craving. As for animals, they live their lives in constant fear and harsh conditions, they are beaten, forced to perform hard work, and they are killed for their meat.

To make things worse, beings in the lower realms never have the opportunity to be exposed to the Buddha Dharma, which would be their only opportunity of freeing themselves from their intense suffering.

As for the three higher realms, they are made up of the gods’ realm, the jealous gods’ realm and the human realm. In the first, the gods are endowed with beautiful bodies, pleasant conditions and very long lives. This causes them to be filled with pride. But these conditions are not permanent and, when they eventually become exhausted, the gods are left in a state of pain that is even more intense than the one experienced in the hell realms. Because they are so content during their lives, the gods never feel the need to practise the Buddha Dharma and so, when their favourable conditions disappear, there is nothing that can allay their suffering.

In the second higher realm, although the jealous gods are also endowed with favourable conditions, they spend their entire existence vying for power with the higher gods. As they invariably lose all their battles and continually suffer unbearable losses, their pain is excruciating and unceasing. And as they are only concerned with fighting throughout their entire existence, they never encounter the possibility of practising the Buddha Dharma. And so in spite of their favourable conditions, they have no access to a source of happiness that can cure their suffering.

In the third higher realm, our human realm, conditions are not ideal like the ones that exist in the two higher ones. Our lives are a mixture of pleasant and unpleasant conditions. But we have the greatest blessing of all, we have the opportunity to practise the Buddha Dharma, and therefore we have the opportunity to become free of our suffering.

Now we have this precious human body, but we are still caught up in samsara and all its suffering because we are afflicted with the three poisons of ignorance, desire and anger. These are what causes all our suffering. In order to become free of our pain, we need to overcome these three poisons. The main poison that keeps us locked in samsara is ignorance. It is the root of the other poisons of desire, attachment, anger, pride and jealousy. So most importantly, we need to eradicate our ignorance. And in order to do this, we need to cultivate wisdom, its antidote.

There are many ways to cultivate wisdom, but the most powerful way and the quickest way, is to supplicate Manjushri, the source of all wisdom. And the best way to obtain his blessing is to receive the Manjushri empowerment and then to practise its sadhana and teaching assiduously.

Before we receive the Manjushri empowerment – or any empowerment or teaching – the first thing we need to do is develop good motivation. Motivation is the most important factor in the practice of the Buddha Dharma. For example, if we receive an empowerment just out of curiosity, without any real interest or commitment, this will be of no value, we won’t receive its blessing nor will we create any merit. And also if we receive it just for our own sake, for our own personal growth, then the empowerment will be of little value and it will create very little merit.

But if we receive the empowerment with a good motivation, with the intense wish to create bodhicitta, the desire to attain enlightenment in order to benefit all beings, then we receive Manjushri’s full blessing, and we accumulate an enormous amount of merit.

Likewise if, after receiving the empowerment, we faithfully practise Manjushri’s sadhana and teaching, and we do this with the same good motivation of creating bodhicitta, of seeking liberation for the sake of all beings, then the blessing that we receive and the merit that we accumulate are incalculable.

With this constant accumulation of blessings and merit, we gradually gain the wisdom that will free us from the suffering of samsara, and will help us to also liberate others.

And so, good motivation, the mind of bodhicitta, is the basis of all practice of the Buddha Dharma and it is the key to gaining wisdom, becoming liberated from samsara, and attaining enlightenment for the sake of all beings.