Training

by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche

Start with the practice of the four immeasurables every day. When you meditate on the four immeasurables of equanimity, loving-kindness, compassion, and sympathetic joy, something sort of sets off an alarm inside of you. This practice lightens up your tendencies to hold a grudge, to be partial, or to be excessively attached.

There is a story from a Tibetan comedian that illustrates the tendency to recite prayers without truly embodying them in our actions. This comedian was in a village where the dogs barked all the time. One particular dog was really mean to him, coming into his room and terrorising him. Anyway, one day the man made a trap for the dog, so that next time the dog entered the room a big stone would drop on its head. Later that day, the man was doing his evening prayers, saying, “May all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness.” Usually, this went quite smoothly, but that particular day it was a bit rough. Something was bothering him. He thought, “Well, maybe I shouldn’t do quite this much.” He went back and replaced the big stone with a piece of wood. When he finished his evening prayers and said, “May all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness,” it went quite smoothly. The next morning he got up early and stumbled out the door, triggering the trap. The piece of wood hit him on the head, and suddenly he realised that if he had left the rock there yesterday it would have killed, not the dog, but him. It was a wake up call to really pay attention to what we recite and take it to heart not as mere lip service but as something that we implement with our actions.

When you meditate on the four immeasurables and are giving birth to the aspiration bodhichitta, any of the neuroses that are there in opposition to that can flash like lights before us. This is the opportunity for you to really get into it and see. What was it that you did yesterday that was so partial? What was it that you did yesterday that was so unkind? What was it that you did yesterday that was so uncompassionate? How is this current state of mind? Are you holding a grudge, clinging to the self, or holding on to certain expectations? Once the red lights beep in your meditation, get into it, come to know it very clearly, understand, and then be cleansed by meditation practice. If you can actually cleanse your heart right on the spot with loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, or equanimity that is wonderful. If not, work towards cleansing. Sometimes it takes a while. Keep at it a little bit at a time.

Training in this way, one day you will actually have the meditation of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity without any flashing red lights. Your deeds of yesterday and today will be totally imperturbable and influenced by those practices.

Also, contemplate how to engage in the practice of generosity. When acting the  opposite to generosity, immediately think, “I should be very generous.” Study the problems of the mind that is not generous and get to know that pain more intimately. Slowly inspire yourself to be generous. Also, with the mind that is not disciplined in virtuous acts, instead of expecting to be disciplined all of a sudden, ask what is that mind that is not disciplined like?  Examine your mind that is steeped in being carried away by its own energy and that of negative habits. Study them, understand them, and then slowly get to know the pain of unwholesome mind more intimately so that one can actually develop renunciation towards that. Inspire yourself to get rid of  these habits and then slowly discipline yourself in the virtuous mind.

Generally in the training of the four immeasurables, one actually trains in the equanimity practice first and then one trains in loving-kindness, compassion, and sympathetic joy, sequentially. Most of you know the book by Patrul Rinpoche, The Words of My Perfect Teacher.

It contains clear instructions on how to engage in these four immeasurables,  equanimity, love, compassion, and sympathetic joy. Once one is quite trained in the four immeasurables, give birth to aspiration bodhichitta, a genuine wish to attain enlightenment for the sake of all mother sentient beings, free them from suffering, and establish them in enlightenment as  well.

You can train progressively, first seeing yourself and others as equal and then exchanging yourself with others. Finally, train in cherishing others more than yourself. These are all specific training that you can do according to your lineage’s traditions to make changes in your mind. It takes a little while of training before your heart will catch up with your head. As the heart becomes slowly purified, cleansed by the power and blessings of what you are thinking, eventually it can actually make a leap to join in with the head. It is very helpful to be patient. Try to understand the reasoning and logic much more clearly, and slowly let your heart follow the reasoning and intention.

However, when we do the practice of the four immeasurables and give birth to bodhichitta right now, we are immature bodhisattvas so there is going to be some inconsistency with how we feel loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. It’s not going to be completely stable, but the effort counts the most. Putting effort into practising the four immeasurables every day in our life and giving rise to aspiration bodhichitta really does seem to work as a protection against our own old habits, the disturbing emotions that surge uncontrollably and take up space in our mind. It also works as a way to cleanse them when they do arise and also to  transform them. To practice the four immeasurables every day is highly recommended. Begin by simply reading it aloud: “May all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness,” and so on. Then spend some time contemplating the practice and trying to generate a sense of loving kindness and compassion along with what you recite.

The whole point of becoming a student of the Buddha Dharma is to transform mind.  If this does it, which I think it does very well, then we should cherish this. I would highly recommend you to do the practice of the four immeasurables before giving rise to the aspiration bodhichitta and before practising seeing yourself and others as equal, exchanging yourself for others, and cherishing others more than yourself. Take the four immeasurables as the main practice, to follow every day. Spend maybe ten minutes on each of the four immeasurables, and then in the end give rise to aspiration bodhichitta. If you can do this, then all the teachings you have received on bodhichitta can merge into this practice and slowly come to shape it. To develop a foundation that supports your studies and practise is very valuable.

To simplify things, let’s engage in a guided meditation on all four immeasurables:

LOVING KINDNESS

Let's begin with loving-kindness. Close your eyes, and imagine limitless space. In the same way that space is limitless, sentient beings are innumerable. The deepest desire and longing of all sentient beings is for happiness and the causes of happiness.

Now, meditate on your own desire and longing for happiness and on the causes and conditions of happiness. This desire is constant. Just as this is the case for you, clearly realise that it is the same for all sentient beings. You and all others have the same longing, the same deep desire and wish. There is no difference between you and other sentient beings.

How intense this longing is, and how constant! There are so many ways in which we try to achieve this happiness. Realise that the same happens to all beings: There is no difference between you and other sentient beings.

Because we are caught in our own self-absorption, we fail to realise what is happening to all sentient beings. Try to eliminate this self-absorption. Try to understand what is universal to the minds of all sentient beings. Make a connection between what is happening in you and what is happening in everybody else. Recognise that all sentient beings are equal.

And then wish that all beings, including yourself, may be happy and obtain the causes and conditions of happiness, on both the relative and ultimate level.

In terms of the relative level, think of all the ways in which sentient beings wish to have their needs fulfilled, from the basic needs of a hungry person who wants food, to anything that could possibly be desired or wished for. Make the aspiration prayer for all these wishes to be fulfilled and for all the causes and conditions of happiness to arise.

And then pray, over and over again,

May all sentient beings be happy and obtain the causes and conditions of happiness.

Using yourself as an example, you can come to know the wish of all beings, the universal wish. Aspire to fulfil the universal wish of all sentient beings. Why limit your prayer to yourself? Why limit it to only some people? Make your aspiration include all sentient beings.

Is there any point in wishing solely for your own happiness? Is there any point in wishing for only some people to be happy? Realise that this kind of segregation has never made any great difference in our lives or in the world, and is based upon our biased mind. This bias consists of your own attachments. Your attachments have not led you in a good direction in the past, and will not lead you in a good direction in the future.

Therefore, try to make your wish impartial. Cover the whole of space, and include all sentient beings. Then think,

May all sentient beings be happy and obtain the causes and conditions of happiness.

Repeat this in your mind again and again. Go deeper and deeper into what you feel as you repeat this line of the prayer over and over.

Then look at how intensely your mind is dedicated to your own comfort and happiness. Recognise your mind’s deep longing, your constant effort, your twenty-four-hour-a-day, nonstop desire. Realise that it is the same for all beings, and make their longing and desire equally important to your own.

Think of how wonderful it would be if every sentient being could attain happiness. Then think of yourself or a small number of beings attaining happiness and what a limited achievement that would be. Why not pray for all beings to attain happiness and the causes of happiness?

And then repeat,

May all beings be happy; may all beings obtain the causes and conditions of happiness.

When you are happy, how does it touch you? When you obtain the causes and conditions of happiness, how do you feel? How do you experience joy and happiness? It is exactly the same for all sentient beings, so try to visualise this, repeating the prayer in your mind again and again and again.

From time to time, reflect on how hard your heart has become, in that it does not feel very much nor does it contain the genuine wish for the happiness of all sentient beings.

Develop a sense of sadness and renunciation about this, and again wish for all sentient beings to be happy and to enjoy the causes and conditions of happiness. Repeat the prayer over and over again.

And then think how wonderful it would be if you could open your heart wider, make it  more tender, and deepen your concern and care for all beings. Pray for the welfare of all: Inspire yourself, make this wish, and then repeat the first line of the prayer to yourself again  and again and again.

Realise that the attainment of every positive worldly and spiritual quality — the path to the higher realms of worldly nature, such as the human and god realms; the path of liberation from samsara; and the path of enlightenment — depends on our genuine wish to develop a good heart. Realise the significance of cultivating a good heart, and wish that all sentient beings may be happy and obtain the causes and conditions of happiness.

Think of all the goodness that you have received, both in the past and the present. This goodness is the result of the kindness of all sentient beings. Someone other than yourself has given it to you.

If it were not for others, you would not have a body to be born into. You would be wandering in the intermediate state like a lost soul, forever and ever. So this body, and the privilege of sight, hearing, and all the other senses and functions of the body, are received as a gift from others. Here, the significant others are your own parents. By remembering the various ways in which your parents expressed their kindness to you, make the wish to express the same kindness to all sentient beings, thinking,

May all beings be happy and obtain the causes and conditions of happiness.

Next, consider how you would not have survived if you had been abandoned at birth. Instead, you were embraced and nurtured, fed, clothed, educated, and shown how to fit into society. As the capable adult, you are now, your qualities have come from the kindness of others, particularly from the significant kindness expressed by your parents. On this basis, wish that all beings may be happy and attain the causes and conditions of happiness.

Realise that all beings have at some point been your parents. Just as your current parents have cared for you in this life, all other beings have cared for you in the past. Feel the deep kindness that you have received from your own parents, and remember that you have received the same kindness from all beings without exception. On this basis repeat,

May all beings be happy and obtain the causes and conditions of happiness.

In all the various ways mentioned here, and in other ways as well, try to make this wish genuine. You know it is genuine when you feel that your constant longing for personal happiness and all the various ways in which you attempt to achieve that becomes a longing for the happiness of all sentient beings.

Be glad if this aspiration arises naturally. Until that point arrives, vow to train your mind so that one day you will reach it. Pray to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas for the welfare of all beings and for your mind to reach that point.

COMPASSION

Now we come to compassion. Think about all the physical, mental, and emotional suffering that you want to avoid, and all the unfortunate circumstances, causes, and conditions that threaten your well-being.

You want to be free from suffering and the causes and conditions of suffering. How reactive you are, and how immediately you move to reject, abandon, or distance yourself from your suffering! In various ways, successful or not, you try to overcome and eliminate the causes and conditions of suffering.

Your involvement in eliminating your suffering is constant and intense. You don’t appreciate suffering. Realise that sentient beings are all the same and that what’s happening inside you happens inside everybody. This longing and these reactions are universal.

Then think about why you are only concerned with yourself. It is far more appropriate to be concerned about the suffering of all sentient beings. Therefore, wish for all beings to be free from suffering and the causes and conditions of suffering. How unnatural it is to be concerned solely with your own suffering when actually everybody is in the same situation!

Wish that all beings might be free from suffering and the causes and conditions of suffering. Repeat this wish in your mind, over and over again,

May all beings be free from suffering and the causes and conditions of suffering.

Think of how intense suffering can be when it arises in your own mind, and recognise that the pain, suffering, anguish, and depression of all other sentient beings are equally unbearable. Therefore, wish for all beings to be free from suffering and the causes and conditions of suffering.

Realise that you yourself fail to appreciate suffering. It makes you fearful, depressed, desperate, and anguished, and you want to get rid of it as soon as possible. This is also the response of every other sentient being. So why not realise that all beings are equal in their wish to eliminate suffering and the causes of suffering? Repeat this prayer again and again,

May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

Think about some minor suffering you might experience, such as a headache or a small burn on your finger, and the fact that all other beings have the same cares, concerns, and attachments. And then think about beings undergoing immense physical suffering — beings who are butchered, roasted, chopped up while still alive, boiled, burnt, or killed by weapons.

Or think about beings who are ill. Just as there are degrees of illness, so are there degrees of pain.

Bring all this suffering into your own experience. Forget that they are others, and experience this suffering as if it were your own. How intensely would you long to be free of suffering? How desperate, depressed, anguished or fearful would you feel? What would be your motivation in these circumstances?

So this is what we do as we meditate. We wish for the suffering of all sentient beings to be eliminated. We wish for them all to be free from suffering and from the causes and conditions of suffering, from both dormant karmic seeds and from the manifest karma that has come to fruition through causes and conditions. Wishing for all sentient beings to be free, repeat this wish again and again.

When you yourself suffer, suffering is not an intellectual thing. Realise that the suffering of beings is real. Therefore wish all beings to be free from all kinds of suffering, without any bias towards or against any particular type of suffering. Repeat your prayer over and over again.

Remember that all these beings have been your mother, protecting you from suffering and the causes of suffering. From birth onwards, they saved you from your own vulnerability to suffering. They transcended all limitations in order to find ways of protecting you. They gave you their life’s energy and resources, their physical, mental, and emotional strength.  Each and every one of them has been your parent at some point.

Right now, when they are in so much pain and suffering, how dare you forget them? How could you? It would be incredibly callous, incredibly ignoble, to ignore their pain. Wish for all of them to be free from suffering and the causes of suffering, even more strongly than you wish for yourself. If you cannot manage that, at least make your wish equal to what you would wish for yourself.

Then reflect on your own suffering, on how self-absorbed you are, twenty-four hours a day; how concerned, unhappy, depressed, and fearful you are. Think how, in a larger context, your suffering is insignificant, and yet you are completely trapped and absorbed in it. Think about how embarrassing that is.

And then consider how much you need to develop kindness and compassion and the wish for all beings to be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

Realise that the attainment of Buddhahood depends on compassionate mind. It is the very essence of bodhichitta; it is the heart of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The realisation of the paths and bhumis and all the benefits of that realisation depends upon bodhichitta. Bodhichitta in its very essence is compassion. What a boon it would be to develop genuine compassion, the authentic wish for all beings to be free from suffering and the causes of suffering! Repeat this wish over and over again.

Also, consider how wonderful it would be to liberate yourself from self-absorption. The only way to do this is to develop compassion. The only way to eliminate the pain of being absorbed in your own concerns, of turning a small amount of suffering into something huge inside your mind, is to develop the genuine compassion that transcends self-absorption.

And then wish all beings may be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. Repeat the line again and again,

May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

As you recite this prayer, realise that all suffering is relative. Relative to the suffering of others, your suffering is small, so try to forget your suffering. Your focus is on the suffering of all, so wish for all beings to be free from suffering and the causes and conditions of suffering.

Pray to the buddhas that you may develop genuine compassion, a longing and concern for the suffering of all beings, a longing for all of them to be free from the immediate experience of suffering and the conditional experience that is to come.

Pray to the bodhisattvas. Vow to follow, embrace, and cultivate their compassionate  heart.

SYMPATHETIC JOY

Next, think of someone who is happy and of whom you are jealous. How could you be jealous because somebody else is happy? Since your aim is to develop bodhichitta, lovingkindness, compassion, and a good heart, how could you possibly be jealous?

Instead, inspire yourself to be genuinely happy that both you and this other person have obtained the causes and conditions of happiness, whatever the cause of the other person’s joy. Consider the other person’s joy as if it were your own achievement, and rejoice from deep within your heart, without the slightest hint of jealousy. Completely overcome your jealousy. See how jealousy ruins your attempts at cultivating a kind and compassionate heart and universal, supreme bodhichitta.

It is in fact extremely rare for someone to obtain the causes and conditions of happiness and be really happy in samsara. So when this does happen, it is far more appropriate to rejoice than to be jealous and condemnatory. Therefore, rejoice from deep within your heart.

Remember that all these beings are your parents. When they are happy, you can rejoice. Think of how all sentient beings are exactly the same as you. When you are happy, you must enjoy and appreciate your happiness, as it is the result of your merit. In the same way, when somebody else is happy, they must enjoy their happiness, because it is the result of their merit. So what is the point of being jealous? How unnatural and ignoble jealousy is!

Therefore, rejoice deeply, with a pure heart. Rejoice with a fresh mind, and embrace other people’s happiness as if it were your own. Since there is really no difference between you and other sentient beings, rejoice in other people’s achievements as if they were your own.

Then rejoice in the achievements of the supreme beings, the buddhas and bodhisattvas. Rejoice in the freedom that they have gained and the noble qualities that they have achieved.

Whenever you hear any good news, rejoice; whenever you see or come to know about something that is good, rejoice, rather than being jealous or neutral.

Rejoice without a trace of indifference or jealousy, as if the achievement were your own or that of a mother sentient being whom you love. Then repeat the third line of the prayer  again and again,

May all never be separated from the great happiness devoid of suffering.

Wishing them all to attain more and more happiness, continue to recite the prayer.

EQUANIMITY

Realise that you must develop loving-kindness, compassion, and sympathetic joy in equal measure towards all beings. Every sentient being has been your parent and is in the same situation as you. Every sentient being desires to be happy, wants to obtain the causes and conditions of happiness and desires to be free from suffering and the causes and conditions of suffering.

Because there is not even a single way in which you are different from other sentient beings in this regard, you must develop equanimity towards all beings. Passion, aggression, and ignorance blind us to this deep connection. Remember that life changes. Throughout your past lives, into the present one and on into the future ones, our relationships, feelings, love, care, and compassion all change if they are based on ignorance.

As passion and aggression are not reliable, you must develop equanimity in relation to lovingkindness, compassion, and sympathetic joy. These qualities are based on something real, something that is untainted by passion, aggression, and ignorance. These qualities are based on relying on all sentient beings as if they were your mother and father, as they all have been. Regarding yourself and others as equal, wish for all sentient beings to be happy and free from suffering.

Then, reflect on the fact that we are all deluded. In reality, samsara and suffering truly do not exist. They are only a delusion and a dream, and we are all bound to that delusion.

Therefore, on the basis of the four immeasurables, wish that all mother sentient beings might obtain freedom from the delusion of samsara and suffering. May they obtain the true nirvana of the innate enlightened dharmakaya.

Student: How do we cultivate generosity?

Rinpoche: It is difficult to shake up and loosen the core of the ego unless you part from something that is precious to you, something that you cling to. Therefore we need to make offerings. Often we make offerings with good intentions, but our actions are controlled and calculated. Since we never really let go of our deepest attachments, they stay unchanged. For us to become worthy so that bodhichitta dawns within, we need to release our own deepest attachments.

During Atisha’s visit to Tibet, when one group of people requested and received the bodhisattva vow, Atisha asked them to make a great offering. The first offering they made was not good enough, so he said that they needed to make a greater offering. Again, they made an even greater offering to the Three Jewels, and again he said that it was not good enough. Three times he made them increase their offering. It’s quite likely that they had to stretch themselves and make a dent in their resources. That was exactly the point — to have people feel that they were parting from their deepest attachments. What they got in return was freedom.

Receiving the bodhisattva vow is being given freedom. It is when pure intention takes birth inside of you. You are not getting anything back other than that. You need to envision that freedom and pure intention being born inside you and sense how that can sustain while your deepest attachments cannot. You need to be really interested in doing this. If you are not quite clear and are haphazardly trying to take the vow, it will simply be mere ritual. If you truly seek freedom and the pure intention of an altruistic mind to sustain you, then give birth to aspiration bodhichitta. If you no longer want things and attachments to nourish you — which they never do anyway — then you need to take this seriously. Without giving up your attachments, merely thinking, “I am going to imagine all of this,” and making an offering does not shake the core of your selfishness. Your attachments are going to be right there, just like a hard rock at the bottom of the river. You need to realistically shake up your attachments, and beyond that, extend the offerings with your imagination as well. Patrul Rinpoche mentions that when we make imagined offerings, we do not need to have a clear picture of them; rather, we must just have a  flash of them and offer them with a pure heart.

When discussing the bodhisattva vow, it must be clear that we are not getting anything back in terms of material gain. We are not even aiming to gain merit. We are simply aiming to get the freedom that is lacking inside of us. To be truly free, the pure altruistic mind must come alive inside us. Not everyone has the capacity to envision freedom and the pure intention of altruistic mind as a support that can sustain their mind. To even be able to imagine that freedom, we need to have a lot of merits. It is not a matter of merely imagining it, but also of having interest, which shows further merit from previous lifetimes. In addition to this merit from past lives, giving offerings and taking vows in the present life can be really beneficial. What we are doing now leaves an imprint so that perhaps in future lives we can do it more fully.

One good reason to practice making offerings to the Three Jewels is that, in the beginning, we tend to want something back. This is just an aspect of ordinary mind and the ordinary mind’s habit. We may be looking for material things, health, spiritual gain, or realisation. The mind tends to go in that direction. Without this kind of initial expectation, it can be too difficult to let go of that slick-looking green thing and turn it into food or butter lamps or whatever.  Actually, in reality, if you truly look at it, this slick green thing is nothing other than our projection of worth or value. Due to the mind’s habit and the feeling of attachment, there is a  consensual value placed on money.

It is very natural for people to think of getting something in return. But actually, as you offer more, you begin to want less for yourself. You come to make offerings out of an appreciation for freedom, and you loosen your need for what can come back to you. Not needing or wanting anything is the greatest freedom. Without this, we may have the mind of a trader,  giving one thing for something else in return.

Regardless of all this, by making offerings there will be merit. Dedicate it to those who are actually in need, those who actually want and cling to things. You will see your own mind transforming through this process. This is a great experience to have — observing how your mind was before, how your mind is in the middle, and how your mind is in the end.

Ask anyone which would be better, absolute freedom or a return on an offering. Anyone who thinks about it would have to say freedom. It is an amazing feeling to not have any kind of clinging or attachment to what we offer. However, in reality, it takes a lot of merits to get to that point. Only when we make offerings as large as possible can we experience that. It’s a catch: You have to offer to get there. It’s hard to imagine what that would be like, yet this is what we should all aim towards. In future lives, we will get to that place of not having any need whatsoever, but still being able to make many offerings to the Three Jewels and do so much good in the world for others. Right now we can only engender the appreciation for this free state of mind.

At present, it is okay to stay where you are and give what you can as an offering. Still, make sure that this ultimately leads to freedom. If your mind includes the possibility of this freedom, you will eventually get it. If you do not imagine that freedom and do not embrace it as part of your merit and the result of generosity, then you will not get it. Instead, you will always be materialising gold and silver; generosity will not lead into mental and emotional freedom. Therefore, when making any offering, even the smallest; make it an offering that directs us to total freedom from all material things, free from clinging even to spiritual things. Aim for freedom from all clinging.

This is a great prayer and a good thing to envision for ourselves since we are all bound by attachment to the material world. It is our attachments that get us stuck — our own mind and emotions. The Buddhist way is the ability to see the weaknesses in one’s own mind and to not feel discouraged, but rather to feel inspired to get beyond them. That is the only way we can actually make a bridge from where we are now to where we want to be. There is merit in looking at our bondage and weaknesses, even though at this point we are unable to completely leave them behind. Sometimes it is helpful to imagine how it would be if we could actually get rid of the bondage of our strong attachment. Imagining in this way opens the door of our mind so that we can truly get there. Offering is the first approach.