All language subtitles for Discovering Buddhism Module 10 - How to Develop Bodhichitta

Discovering Buddhism

How to Develop Bodhicitta

His Holiness the Dalai
Lama has said that

real compassion comes from
seeing the suffering of others

and you feel a sense of responsibility

and want to do something for them.

The more we care for
the happiness of others,

the greater is our own
sense of well-being.

In Buddhism,

this attitude of wishing to
give ultimate benefit to others

as much as possible
is called "Bodhicitta."

It is the heart of Buddhist practice.

Now we all know an eye for an
eye only makes the world blind.

We hear this wisdom but how
can we really practice it?

Buddha taught accessible methods
for how to transform every heart,

no matter how wounded, into one that
only thinks of benefiting others.

Join us as we learn how to
develop this profound compassion.

MOTIVATION

At the beginning of
each of our teachings

we have been setting an
appropriate motivation.

That motivation has been the
wish to achieve enlightenment

in order to be able to
benefit all living beings

and lead them to enlightenment as well.

This intention, this wish,

is actually the mind of
bodhicitta and is known also

as the mind of Enlightenment.

Now bodhicitta is an attitude that is
progressively developed step-by-step.

And the very first step in
that process of development is

generating an appropriate motivation,

a strong motivation for practice.

And so before listening
to these teachings,

in your mind make a strong
determination to be able,

as quickly as possible, to
reach the state of Buddahood.

Not for yourself alone but in
order to benefit all living beings.

For as long as space endures
And for as long as living beings remain
Until then may I too abide
To dispel the misery of the world.
- Shantideva

TEACHERS

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso
has lived in India as the exiled

Head of State and Spiritual Leader of the Tibetan people
since the Chinese occupation in1959.

His Holiness, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize,
is one of the most renowned
and beloved spiritual leaders in the world

and has traveled over
46 nations as a major proponent
of human rights and world peace.

So once you have that
kind of true understanding

of the nature of suffering with
relation to one's own existence,

then you extend that
understanding, that recognition,

towards all other sentient beings

and reflect upon their
status as suffering beings.

And then cultivate the wish
that just as you yourself

wish to attain freedom
from the suffering,

so too all of these sentient beings
wish to be free from suffering.

So in that way you
cultivate great compassion

and the wish that all sentient
beings enjoy happiness,

which is the freedom from suffering
that is the loving-kindness.

So on the basis of compassion that
wishes others to be free of suffering,

loving kindness that wishes
others to enjoy happiness,

then you cultivate a sense
of special responsibility.

Therefore your compassion does not
remain simply at the level of wish

or aspiration but rather it
generates a sense of commitment

and responsibility that I shall
liberate all beings from suffering.

And this kind of extraordinary
sense of responsibility will lead

to the eventual
realization of bodhicitta

which is the altruistic intention,

aspiring to attain Buddhahood
for the benefit of all beings.

The bodhicitta is like a central
axle of the Mahayana path.

Therefore it is this
factor of bodhicitta,

which determines whether or
not you are within the fold

or outside the fold of the
bodhisattva practitioners.

So if you lack the bodhicitta,
this altruistic intention,

no matter how other powerful
practices that you may have such as

the realization of emptiness, even
direct realization of emptiness,

or even nirvana that
you may have attained,

none of these practices become
the conducts of a bodhisattva.

When you have the quality of
bodhicitta, realization of bodhicitta,

even a simple act of virtue
such as feeding the ants,

giving food to the ants, which may
seem a kind of an insignificant activity

but because of your
bodhicitta motivation,

this altruistic intention, even
these simple acts are transformed

into conditions for attainment
of full enlightenment.

So in a way it is like an elixir
that transforms base metals into gold.

Born in Nepal in 1946, Lama Zopa Rinpoche
is the reincarnation of the Lawudo Lama.

Rinpoche began Kopan Monastery
with his heart teacher Lama Thubten Yeshe.

Together they have made traditional
Buddhist education available to thousands
of western students since 1972.

Rinpoche is now the Spiritual Director
of FPMT International, which is comprised of
136 centers worldwide.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche devotes himself tirelessly
for the benefit of countless beings.

I think answer for everything, answer
for everything I think it's compassion,

you know, bodhicitta.

The purpose of my life is not just
to achieve happiness for myself,

to free myself from my
own problems, sufferings.

The purpose of my life
is to benefit others,

other sentient beings
who are numberless.

So I must free them from all
the suffering and its causes

and bring them to enlightenment.

So when you generate this thought,
this attitude of bodhicitta,

the thought of benefiting others,
it makes, it brings so much peace,

contentment, fulfilling in your
heart, it makes your life so happy.

So usually there's two
ways to develop bodhicitta.

One technique to develop
bodhicitta is through

the seven techniques of
Mahayana cause and effect.

So you meditate how
all the sentient beings

have been your kind mother.

She gave you your body, and
then the numberless times

that she protected
your life from dangers,

and the numberless kindnesses
she gave by educating.

And the numberless kindnesses
she showed by bearing

so much hardship for your own happiness.

When they're your own mother,
then they bear so much hardship,

and suffer so much, to take care
of you for your own well-being,

for your own happiness.

So like that.

Then so this is how you
meditate in that technique

on the kindness of the mother.

So then you see you feel
she is very precious.

So this way when you feel
everybody is your kind mother

you feel warm towards them,
you see

beauty, not talking about
the beauty of the body

but about kindness,
about being kind.

You see other sentient
beings are suffering,

samsaric suffering, so one wishes
others to be free from suffering,

causes of suffering,
and you want to do that,

so that when you take the
responsibility on yourself,

to cause happiness for others,
that's the Mahayana loving kindness.

So this is my turn to help them
so I must free them all...you see,

I will free from all the
suffering...all the sentient beings,

all the sentient
beings without exception

from all the suffering and causes
and bring them to enlightenment

by myself alone.

So you take full responsibility.

Then for the success of that
there's no other way except

to first make myself
achieve enlightenment.

So that

when that thought arises
naturally day and night,

without any effort, just while
you're eating, walking, anything,

this thought naturally arises,

like the mother whose
child fell in the fire

or drowned in the river
or ocean, then this mother

while she's eating,
walking, all the time

she's constantly thinking
of saving her child.

Without any effort, it
just continues like that.

So like that thought to
achieve enlightenment,

to free the sentient beings from
all the suffering and its causes

and bring them to enlightenment.

So that time, then one
has realization bodhicitta.

So without bodhicitta
cannot achieve enlightenment.

So you can see now clearly
that without compassion,

you cannot achieve
enlightenment yourself

and cannot enlighten, cannot
liberate all the sentient beings

from all the sufferings and
bring them to enlightenment.

You cannot do perfect work
for the sentient beings. So therefore,

this is why compassion is
the most important thing in the life.

Venerable Ribur Rinpoche was born
in Eastern Tibet in 1923.

At the age of five, he was recognized
by the Thirteenth Dalai Lama as the sixth
incarnation of Sera-mae Ribur Rinpoche.

He entered Sera Monastic University in Lhasa
and became a Geshe at age twenty-four.

He meditated and taught Dharma until 1959,
after which he suffered under intense Chinese
oppression for twenty-one years.

In 1980 he was allowed to perform
some religious activities, and he helped build
a new stupa for Pabongka Rinpoche at Sera.

Rinpoche teaches throughout
the United States, Asia, and Europe.

One of these verses of the
bodhicitta in the training says

this chronic disease of
constantly cherishing oneself,

the chronic disease of egoism
it is actually the cause

of all unwanted circumstances.

Having recognized that
this is the one to blame

for all the shortcomings
bless me so I might be able

to eliminate this self-grasping.

The practice of tong
len, of taking and giving,

this is an incredible powerful practice,

an incredible powerful meditation,
and the immediate result,

the good result that you
have on training your mind

on the basis of tong len is
so you will be able to develop

a very uncommon powerful courage.

You will become really
brave hearted, very brave.

So brave that nothing will
be able to shake you anymore.

You become as brave as
being, that kind of courage

that kind of courage, that you're sure you
can take upon yourself

the burden of all sentient
beings and you're able to give

to all sentient beings whatever
they need from yourself alone.

So it means that once you
have acquired so much courage

by training your mind, you won't
be harmed by delusions anymore.

Delusions arise in your mind but you'll
be able to conquer them right away.

Once you have given,
once you have mentally,

you have the training of giving of
being able to give yourself to others,

to that extent the quality of your
happiness will increase tremendously.

It is actually the best
happiness you can find.

If something happens to you
when you have trained your mind

so much with this meditation of giving,

of giving and taking upon yourself
the sufferings of sentient beings,

and giving out whatever
goodness you have,

you cannot experience anymore any loss

because mentally

you have given it already.

So instead of encountering
sufferings, upon having losses,

you actually, your mind
becomes happier and happier.

The actual meditation
on taking and giving is

you should try to meditate in this way.

So, first of all, you just visualize
yourself surrounded by all sentient beings.

Then you should begin gradually.

First, you think of yourself you
think of your own sufferings first:

the sufferings of today,
the sufferings of tomorrow,

the suffering of this life, the sufferings
might be increasing with the future life

and so forth until you are comfortable

accepting your own sufferings
ripening upon yourself.

Then slowly move over to your
parents, move over to your parents,

move over to your kids, move
over to your husband or your wife,

to your family.

And then you move over, once
you are comfortable with that,

you increase with all your friends.

Once you're comfortable with that,
you increase with all your enemies.

Once you are comfortable
with that you increase it

with all the strangers,
all the human beings.

Then once you're comfortable
with that you increase it

with all the animals
and so on and so forth.

You gradually build up the strength
of your courage in your meditation

until you are able to
embrace all sentient beings.

The meditation of taking and
giving, in Tibetan, tong len,

actually means giving and taking from
the point of view of the practice,

you first take and then give.

You first take upon yourself
and then you give out.

So once you have this, on the
basis of this feeling of compassion

in beginning to think
that all these sufferings,

the sufferings of the hell
beings and of cold and heat,

the sufferings of the hunger and
thirst of the pretas and so on.

Each of the sufferings, begin to think

that they come out of the sentient
beings like a huge, black cloud

and it's in the nature
of the sufferings

of the sentient beings and the causes.

All those non-virtuous
actions which bring

as a result that type of sufferings
and they just ripen on you.

They just absorb onto you,
right in the center of the heart

where the self-cherishing thought
stays, right there, and destroys it.

Just think that it ripens
completely right there upon yourself.

And by doing this, think that I am
freeing all my mother sentient beings

from their sufferings, they're
ripening upon me right now.

Therefore, from now on
my mother sentient beings

they will dwell in the
irreversible happiness

and I myself alone am doing this.

So generate a great joy, at
the end of your meditation,

of having been able to do so.

So at this point, once you have
taken in this way gradually,

then it is the time for giving.

Giving is done , taking is done on the
basis of great compassion,

wanting all sentient beings
to be free from suffering.

This is the meaning of compassion.

So now you give with love.

What is the meaning of love?

Love, the wish of all
sentient beings to be happy

to possess all their happiness,
temporary and ultimate happiness

that they wish for in
accordance with their desire,

exactly as they desire.

By using your breath
with your visualization,

mounting it with love and
compassion to give and to take,

it will become quite
powerful and a quick method

to realize the mind of enlightenment.

You collect merit like the sky

when you take others suffering
and give your happiness.

- Lama Zopa Rinpoche

STUDENTS

What does BODHICITTA mean to you?

There is no question in my mind
that Bodhicitta is the root of all,

the foundation of all practices.

Without bodhicitta none
of it makes any sense,

it doesn't have any power to
it, there's no juice to it.

From my experience there's no
transformative effect to meditation

without developing compassion.

It becomes a bit dry and ineffectual.

And it creates a kind
of cool detachment,

which I don't think was the
purpose of the Buddha's work.

Ultimately the work that is achieved
through the various practices

is to break down all barriers.

And there's no more tangible one
than breaking down the barriers

to having a compassionate
open heart to all beings,

insects and enemies included.

To begin to approach a new
kind of relationship with them

to me really is the
beginning of practice.

There is a very powerful
practice, a simple practice

that I started using years
and years and years ago.

And it was simply every
creature that I met,

whether it was a person an
insect what ever it may be,

the first thought that I allowed myself

to generate toward that other
being was "I wish you happiness ".

Very simple thing.

But make sure that the very
first thought you have is

"I wish you happiness."

And how that totally
transforms what happens

after that point with this other person.

This is my own my own experience,
I see this very clearly.

Now sometimes it's extremely difficult

when you're faced with an enemy,

when you are face with an
immediate physical situation

when something is in your
face, it becomes very difficult.

That's where the meditative
process of being able to stop

the arisal of an afflictive
emotion becomes really important.

That there is an immediate
space that you can create

where you can see it arise and
before it actually takes you over,

you are able to transform it.

See it for what it is.

This is ignorance being manifest,

this anger is nothing more than
ignorance from my side and their side.

Transform it
- let it go.

Transform it
- turn it into love.

I wish you happiness.

If you'd just try that,

what an extraordinary
difference everything makes.

Giving birth is an amazing experience.

For me, the pain was so intense that
it really allowed my mind to focus

in a way that I very rarely,
if ever can otherwise.

And so, during the process of birth

when a contraction would come
and it would just be so intense

and so painful, that
was really the only time

that I've ever been able to
practice tong len in a way

that I felt it was powerful and
it was really affecting my mind.

And it was the only thing that allowed
my mind to get through that process.

Because if I would freak out and
lose concentration for a minute,

the pain would just be so
overwhelming I couldn't handle it.

But then if I could just think
of all the others out there

who had either experienced that
kind of pain in similar situations

or the numerous other kinds of pain

that people are
experiencing all the time

and I could think of trying
to take on their suffering

and to experience it and to take it
away from them in what I was feeling.

It somehow helped to
keep it much more focused

and it helped to keep it bearable.

I got a tiny taste during that process
of how powerful tong len can be,

and how amazing. Like,if you really

practice that all
the time, and you just,

or as a regular daily practice, even,

it would just change the way
you view the world so much.

And then I think as a parent,

you start to get a little opportunity
to do that in the waking time,

it's probably, in practice
in being around my daughter

that 's probably the only time
really that I'll have a desire

and she'll have an opposing desire

and I'll give in and do what she
needs before I'll do what I need.

So it's nice to see that
and it's amazing to imagine

what that would be like
to have that feeling

towards every other being on the planet.

And you can see some of these teachers

they do have that feeling towards
every being on the planet

and it's amazing.

If I give this, what is left for me?
Thinking of oneself,
this is the path of evil ghosts.

If I keep this, what is left to give?
Concern for others is the way of Gods.

- Master Shantideva

Please dedicate the positive energy generated
by listening to these teachings,

so you can quickly attain Enlightenment
for the benefit of all beings.