Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. A common misreading of “renunciation” — that it demands a beggar’s life without spouse or possessions — opens this 40-minute introductory commentary by Geshe Pema Tsering. He corrects this at once, pointing to Marpa, Milarepa’s householder teacher who kept a wife, cattle, and a farm, as proof that renunciation is a mental attitude available to anyone. Geshe-la then frames a four-week intensive study series with a closing exam, arguing that deep study — not passive reception, “like images on television” — is how Dharma mixes with the mind. He unpacks the three principal aspects and maps them to their goals: renunciation for liberation, bodhicitta for Buddhahood, correct view for both. The session closes with a Q&A explaining uncontrived bodhicitta — how, once sufficiently habituated, it can arise effortlessly, just as anger does.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01 Three Principle Aspects.mp3
UUID: 3a9556fb-1237-43a6-9e55-0b3faae9477d
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: The three principal aspects of the Path (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2002 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 39.7 minutes
Words: ~5,812
Welcome to Langri Tangpa Centre Home Study. These eleven teachings on the three principal aspects of the path were given at Langri Tangpa Centre by Geshe Pema Tsering in two thousand and one. We have transcribed and edited them and included them along with the audio tapes onto these CDs. The first audio tape has been lost, so I’ll be reading from the transcript for this first talk. However, talks two to eleven are intact and given by Geshe Pema Tsering and translated by Venerable Lhundup.
The three principal aspects of the path: Renunciation. Talk one. Although a number of teachings were given over the past weeks, Geshe-la found it difficult to determine how much was actually being understood and retained. With that in mind, a change has been brought about. The primary aim now is to work towards getting a good study program on the model of the BSP going here at Langri Tangpa Centre.
For the next four weeks Geshe-la will be teaching on the very essence of the Buddha’s teachings, the three principal aspects of the path. At the end of these four weeks, those of you who have the desire will be able to sit an exam. Your results will hopefully reflect what you’ve understood and learnt during these four weeks of teachings that Geshe-la has given. These four weeks, with the fifth week being an exam, will serve as a trial run to see how we do in adapting to a more intensive study atmosphere, because once again the long term goal is to try to institute that type of study program here at Langri Tangpa Centre. When we look at the way in which the Buddha Dharma can benefit the mind, we see that the deeper we study, the more Dharma becomes mixed with the mind.
When the mind is actually mixed with Dharma, real benefits come about. The deeper we study, the more able we are to bring about this mixture. We really begin to get a taste for the Dharma when our mind begins to experience Dharma. Geshe-la will be teaching on something that is very practical and applicable to our everyday lives. These teachings can be combined with our mind in this way that he is speaking of.
If instead of doing some in-depth study and bringing this experience of Dharma to mind, we approach Dharma as we do television, then the benefit of the Buddhadharma is quite limited. If the teachings we receive just pass by like images on television, the taste of Dharma will not be deep or satisfying. Geshe-la himself studied for many years. As soon as he finished his studies, the opportunity for Geshe-la to come to this country and teach the Dharma arose. The completion of his studies and the very insistent request for Geshe-la to come to Australia to teach Dharma coincided quite well.
This means that having completed his studies, he didn’t have a specific amount of time set aside for meditation. That having been said, while he was doing his studies, he was engaging in meditations and teachings and teachings and teachings and teachings and teachings and so forth, but there was no long block of time in his life that was set aside for specific meditation practice. This world is overflowing with problems and suffering. Geshe-la left his monastery, sister, and his relatives behind. Yet at the same time it’s almost as if, in his mind, there is not the type of suffering that we would expect someone to have due to these experiences he has undergone.
He attributes this to the fact that just by studying the dharma and by mixing his mind with the dharma in that study, he was able to bring this situation about. He attributes it to the Dharma itself. His hope is that we are able to get a similar opportunity for study, and in addition to that, have a bit of time for meditation as well. If, like Geshe-la, you don’t get to have a specific time set aside to meditate, and you can mix your mind with the Dharma study you do, there is a benefit. Think about the benefit that would come about if you could take that study one step further and meditate upon it.
I hope that all of you gain this opportunity to study, to mix your mind with the Dharma, and hopefully to meditate so that you can bring forth this taste, this experience of Dharma. The instructions that we receive here, and the study that we have the opportunity to engage in, hopefully will not only allow us to be more relaxed and happy in this lifetime, but will also be of benefit to us at the time of death. These studies can help us to institute a relaxed state of mind so that we face the time of death in a very peaceful manner. We have a limited timetable that we are working with because Geshe-la has been invited to teach in New Zealand in November. The actual amount of time that we have at our disposal is limited.
It is not clear how far into the text the three principal aspects of the path we will actually get. In any case, Geshe-la will be teaching regularly from this text and we will see how far we go. The roots of the three principal aspects of the path are renunciation, bodhicitta and the correct view. The introduction to all of this is renunciation—at least this is how it is typically translated into English. It’s more accurately translated as definite emergence.
The way it’s translated in English as renunciation leads some people to think that you have to live like a beggar without anything, any money or material possessions. That is not the meaning of renunciation. In fact, renunciation is a mind, a mental attitude, which is accessible to someone who has money and material possessions just as much as it is accessible to one who has absolutely no possessions or money. To think that renunciation implies that one must live as a beggar is a mistake. It’s about having a particular state of minda state of mind that is available to anyone regardless of their material well-being.
In the early spread of Buddhism in Tibet, there was a layperson known as the Lord Marpa. Lord Marpa is most popularly known as the Lama of Jetsün Milarepa, the great yogi. Marpa was actually a householder. He had a wife and he kept animals to help with the farm work and to provide dairy products. Clear to us that Marpa was somebody who had a sense of renunciation of bodhicitta.
It’s clear that a householder can have these things. Means that renunciation does not mean that we cannot have a partner, a spouse, a wife or a husband. The fact that he was a farmer and kept cows, yaks and so forth indicates that it doesn’t mean that you have to live as a beggar either. We shouldn’t misunderstand or apply a mistaken understanding to the word renunciation. It does not mean that one lives as a beggar.
It does not mean that one does not have a spouse. In the context of Geshe-la’s commentary, he will certainly be addressing the importance of developing renunciation. The text is called The Three Principal Aspects of the Path, and the first line reads: I bow to all the high and holy lamas. Someone of very wide learning could apply an extremely extensive explanation to this one line. For instance, this one line about all the high and holy lamas can be taken to explain the first topic in the lamrimthe stages of the pathwhich is the proper way of relying upon a spiritual teacher.
Our interest here is not to completely plumb all the potential depths that could be discerned from these lines. We’re interested in taking out the very essence in the context of the teachings. In studying listening to these teachings, we’ll be trying to gain an understanding from the words that we see here. Rather than go into an incredibly detailed and deep explanation, we’ll just take the primary aspects that are addressed. The ultimate aim for someone on the path is to attain the state of Buddhahood, which is a state in which one possesses ultimate wisdom, ultimate compassion and ultimate capacity.
Although the ultimate aim is to attain Buddhahood, there is also a lesser result, which is known as liberation. There are basically two ways in which one can progress along the path. One can first aim to attain liberation and then move on to attain Buddhahood after a short rest in a state of liberation or nirvana. Or one can aim straight for the goal of Buddhahood. When one attains Buddhahood, one would have attained liberation as well.
One can either go straight for the ultimate goal or aim for the ultimate goal by taking a rest stop in liberation. Lama is a Tibetan word. A lama is one who unmistakably and completely teaches the paths, by which one goes on to attain liberation and Buddhahood. The lama is held to be one who is unsurpassably kind to us. In fact the word lama is a contraction of the word unsurpassable.
In Tibetan it is lama mepa. Lama is a shortened word of that. Unsurpassable, highest, is the meaning of lama. They are unsurpassable in their kindness to us because it is they who teach us the way to eliminate all suffering and attain the highest happiness. In general, are many people who are kind to us in this lifetime.
For instance, our mothers and fathers and teachers are kind to us, but the kindness of the lama exceeds them. They are therefore called unsurpassable or highest. That is the meaning of lama. As a Buddhist, one can also understand the word lama to indicate Śākyamūni Buddha. Śākyamūni Buddha is known by the name of the lama, the conqueror Śākyamūni.
This is because the very root of the teachings explaining the unmistaken paths to attain liberation in Buddhahood come from Śākyamūni Buddha. It was Śākyamūni Buddha who unmistakably taught from his own experience the way to attain these two states. He is also addressed as the lama and included in those to whom this praise is dedicated. The text says: I bow to all the high and holy lamas. Bow or prostrate in Tibetan can be explained in terms of the two syllables that make up the word.
An etymological description of to bow or to prostrate would be explained in the following way. First of all, the word is chaktsel. It is made up of two: chak and tsel. Chak means to sweep away. When we say I bow to the high and holy lamas, we are, in essence, repeatedly requesting the lamas to sweep away obstacles that might hinder or prevent our attainment of the particular goals of liberation and Buddhahood.
Tsel is a word that means to seek or to search. We are looking for something. It also has connotation of a pleading request. We are requesting the lama to please quickly teach us the means by which we may actualise the goals of liberation and Buddhahood. Prostrate means to sweep away the obstacles and to bestow upon us the instructions that will allow us to attain the goal.
The methods by which one brings about this attainment are renunciation, bodhicitta, and the correct view. These are the teachings that we are seeking from the lamas. We have identified two goals or two aims. There is the final goal, which is Buddhahood, the state in which one has ultimate wisdom, ultimate compassion and ultimate capacity. bodhicitta is especially related to the attainment of Buddhahood.
Without bodhicitta we cannot attain Buddhahood. The other goal is liberation. Renunciation is especially related to liberation. Without renunciation, we cannot attain liberation. The correct view facilitates both the attainment of liberation and Buddhahood.
If one thinks that they are to pursue the goal of liberation first and then only after attaining liberation will they move on to attain Buddhahood, then it is important for that person to proceed by means of renunciation and the correct view. If one thinks that one will head straight for the final aim of Buddhahood, one needs to proceed via bodhicitta and the correct view. Whatever the case may be, if one develops bodhicitta, it is necessarily the case that they have also developed renunciation, whereas just because one has renunciation does not mean that one has bodhicitta. From that we can infer that by developing bodhicitta as a byproduct of that development one develops renunciation as well. In any case, without renunciation there is no way one can attain liberation.
Without bodhicitta there is no way one can attain Buddhahood. The correct view facilitates both of these, and therefore it is said there is no attainment on the Buddhist path without renunciation, bodhicitta, and the correct view. The vital point is that without renunciation there is no way one can attain liberation. Without bodhicitta there is no way one can attain Buddhahood. Without the wisdom realizing emptiness, which is the correct view, there is no way one can attain either liberation or Buddhahood.
This is the primary assertion that Geshe-la made, and this you should keep in the depths of your heart. While you listen to the teachings over the next four weeks, you should be examining how these teachings reflect this situation. At the end of the four weeks, you can think: On that first night he said that renunciation is necessary for liberation, bodhicitta is necessary for Buddhahood, and without the wisdom realising emptiness, the correct view, neither of these is possible. In the following weeks he explained it in this way. In that way, you’ll be able to come to see both Geshe-la’s qualities as well as his faults, thinking, did he actually teach this?
Did he prove his fundamental assertion that he set out in the initial weeks? You should keep this in mind, and at the end of the four weeks, rather than just drifting here and there and listening to teachings and not having anything to apply it to, your mind will be able to reflect upon how all of this ties together with this primary assertion that has just been made. It’s important that we are able to identify any mistakes that might slip out of Geshe-la’s mouth. And if that goes for Geshe-la, then of course that goes for me, Bob, as well. It’s important that we listen to these teachings, reflect upon them and try to see whether or not there are some mistakes being made.
If the correct teachings are being given, then we have a basis for discussion and development. Please reflect upon what has been said. If you have some doubts or questions about whether or not something is accurate or mistaken, then please express them so that we may be able to clarify them. By not being able to recognise their mistakes, we will not be able to develop in the way that we seek. We begin with the first verse that reads: As far as I am able, I will explain the essence of all the high teachings of the victors, the path that all the holy sons commend, the entry point for the fortunate seeking freedom.
The Buddha, who is known as the victor or conqueror, gave an immense number of teachings. It is said that the Buddha gave teachings on the eighty four thousand dharmas and that his teachings would fill eighty four thousand volumes. Of all of these teachings, the very central meaning of the eighty four thousand is in these three principal aspects of renunciation, bodhicitta and the correct view. This is the second line reads: The essence of all the high teachings of the victors. This is the topic of the three principal aspects.
The verse goes on to explain renunciation, bodhicitta and correct view as being the path that all their holy sons commend. Holy sons can also be translated as the children of the conqueror. Children of the conqueror refers to those beings who generate the understanding of these teachings in their mind, and are acting and teaching upon these points from their own experience. Such beings are disciples of the Buddha, and such disciples of the Buddha highly praise the path of renunciation, bodhicitta, and correct view by saying, in accord with what Geshe-la was mentioning earlier, that without renunciation, bodhicitta, the correct view, one couldn’t attain Buddhahood. Therefore this is praised as the highest path, the very essential path, the very essential meaning of all the teachings given by the conqueror, the Buddha.
The last line is the entry point for the fortunate seeking freedom. Freedom is more commonly translated as liberation. The fortunate ones seeking liberation, as well as this term we were looking at earlier, translated here as holy sons or children of the conqueror, are basically synonyms for bodhisattva. We have seen how children of the conqueror can be understood as a bodhisattva, as it refers to those who have generated experience of the teachings in their own continuum and practised from their own experience. The fortunate ones seeking liberation can be understood in the following way: There are two types of liberation.
Is mere liberation and unsurpassable liberation. Mere liberation refers to liberation or nirvana, whereas unsurpassable liberation refers Buddhahood. The liberation which is sought by fortunate ones is the highest liberation, and therefore fortunate ones seeking liberation refers to bodhisattvas. They pursue this path via the means of development of bodhicitta. Then we look at the first word, entry point, which is often translated as ford.
Sometimes this word ford is used as analogy for a boat that takes you across the river. In fact, a ford is a low or dry point that allows you to cross a body of water. Although these days we have all sorts of methods that allow for us to go from one side of the water to another, suppose that we didn’t. If there was only one bridge or one low point in the water, then anyone who wanted to cross from one side to the other must go via that bridge or forward. Otherwise they would not be able to cross.
Similar to this analogy, you have someone who is seeking to attain unsurpassable liberation They must seek that attainment by progressing via renunciation, bodhicitta, and the correct view. As well as I am able is a promise that the author, Lama Tsongkhapa, is making. The way he phrases it is almost as if he’s saying, it’s difficult to explain these things as they really are, but I’ll try the best of my ability to do so, which is basically Lama Tsongkhapa displaying the aspect of being somebody without pride. This word that I’ve been translating as children of the conqueror is oftentimes translated into English as sons of the conqueror, as we see here. Rather than saying conqueror, they have said holy.
Here is an exact example of what Geshe-la is referring to. Sometimes this word in Tibetan is translated as sons of the conquerors, which has led some people to draw the conclusion that the Tibetans are being sexist, that they are saying this refers only to males. That is not at all the case. If you were to ask a Tibetan who really knows their dharma, they would respond by saying that this word, sons of the conquerors, cannot be to refer only to males. Geshe-la can prove that this is the case by illustrating different sources from different texts.
If one looks in the text one will find that as soon a being develops uncontrived bodhicitta in their continuum, they are known as a child of the conqueror. They become a bodhisattva. If one is a bodhisattva, one is necessarily a child of the conqueror. A Tibetan will never say that it is only possible for males to develop uncontrived bodhicitta in their continuum. Of course not!
Therefore, if anyone who develops uncontrived bodhicitta in his or her continuum becomes a child of the conqueror, then to understand this to refer to a son of the conqueror is incorrect. Despite the fact that this has been translated in this way, it should not be taken as a sexist position that exists within Tibetan culture. Geshe-la is not just saying this to please you, he’s not just trying to be politically correct by saying, oh no, no, no, no, Tibetans don’t really mean it, ‘ while at the same time he really knows that, oh, well, the Tibetans really think that only males can attain this. It’s not the case at all. You will see that such is true in the text, because there has been a problem in the path that has arisen due to certain modes of translation.
You should understand that this is not at all the meaning that is typically drawn within the traditional Tibetan context. Child of the conquerors is meant to refer to bodhisattvas. If you are asserting that child of the conquerors should be properly translated as sons of the conquerors, then you are essentially saying that in order to be a bodhisattva you need to be male. And who would assert that? The second verse reads: Listen with a pure mind, fortunate ones, who have no craving for the pleasures of life, and who, to make leisure and fortune meaningful, strive to turn their minds to the path which pleases the victors.
Essentially, this verse is intended to inspire us to give rise to the desire to listen to these teachings. These very lines are capable of bringing forth a particular potential. That potential that is brought forth is the understanding of what is actually intended by these teachings. If you look at the second line it mentions fortunate ones who have no craving for the pleasures of life. Perhaps more literally translated, those who are not attached to the pleasures of existence.
Existence is another way of speaking about saṃsāra. We should understand from the very phrasing of this line that Buddhas are not saying that we do not need happiness or pleasure at all. This is not the case. While experiencing pleasure, one is capable of practising Dharma and seeking to eliminate the causes of suffering while if one experiences no happiness and pleasure but is completely overwhelmed by suffering, one will not even be able to practise Dharma. The phrasing of this line indicates that the Buddhas are not saying we do not need happiness or pleasure in any form whatsoever.
Rather, we are encouraged to differentiate between the type of pleasure happiness that is available. We have what is known as the pleasure of existence and the pleasures and happiness of liberation. On the one hand we have samsaric pleasures, which are pleasures that are sullied by suffering. On the other hand are the happinesses and pleasures of liberation, which are happinesses and pleasures that are not sullied by suffering. Rather than be attached to and seek those types of happinesses that are sullied by suffering, we are encouraged to seek the happiness of liberation, a type of happiness that is not stained or sullied by suffering.
One necessarily needs to be primarily striving for the happiness of liberation as opposed to being one who is primarily striving for the happiness of saṃsāra. One who is without this type of attachment for the pleasures of saṃsāra is identified identified as a fortunate one who strives to make this precious opportunity meaningful. The last line reads: to turn their minds to the path which pleases the victors. The victor is a term that is understood to refer to all Buddhas. Buddhas are beings that have been liberated from all fear themselves, and as such they assume the responsibility of teaching others the methods to free themselves from all suffering.
They teach these methods to all beings without a sense of partiality. This means that they do not hold some beings close to them and look upon them favourably, and hold others to be somewhat distant and look upon them unfavourably. A Buddha, a conqueror, a victor, is one who is without a sense of distance or closeness to sentient beings. The Buddha is a being who assumes that very responsibility of teaching others the methods by which they may be freed from their fears. Here they mention that there is a path that will please such victors.
What is a path that pleases such victors? If one were to engage in their life in such a way that they were striving primarily for the happiness of liberation, and they are not overly involved in samsaric pleasures, that would please the victors. Therefore one who is training in a way that they are striving primarily for these types of happiness, which are not at all sullied by suffering, that is practising a path that pleases the victors. Sometimes we don’t actually know if all our actions are pleasing the victors or not. We have tradition of making offerings such as flowers and water to the Buddhas.
Who knows, perhaps when the Buddhas witness such an act of offering flowers and water and so forth, maybe they become very sad because they see person who is making such offerings does not possess a positive motivation. Perhaps that person is not dedicated to this type of path. Although they think they are doing something that is pleasing victors, they are not actually doing so. We know that by striving for the happiness of liberation and not striving for the pleasures of saṃsāra is one way of pleasing the victors, and thus those of pure mind, the fortunate ones, who lack such craving toward samsaric pleasures, turn their minds to this type of path. The first line of this verse reads: Listen with a pure mind, fortunate ones.
What is a pure mind? How can we understand this pure mind? It means not to be deceitful in your thinking. It means to be honest, to be straightforward. If one were to listen to these teachings motivated by pride, jealousy, or any one of the afflictions, one’s mind would not be pure.
One would not really be being straightforward in one’s intentions and motivations for engaging in the act of listening to the teachings. It’s extremely important that one lacks this type of deceitful mind, but that one tries to bring an honest intention to listening to the teachings. And in this way one may with a pure mind. The next verse goes on to discuss the reasons for needing to generate renunciation. We won’t be able to go further than the first two lines of this third verse tonight.
That will mark the end of our teaching. To say a bit about these two lines that read, there’s no way to end without pure renunciation, the striving for pleasant results in the ocean of life. The ocean of life is referring to the ocean of existence, the ocean of saṃsāra. When we look into why it is that we have not been able to be liberated from saṃsāra, we come down to the essential fact that we have not been able to forsake the striving for samsaric states that we have. Because we have not been able to reverse this type of attitude in which we strive for samsaric states, we have not been able to be liberated from saṃsāra.
That is the basic reason. The text is stating that without eliminating these attitudes we have in which we seek samsaric states, there is no way we will bring about such liberation. It speaks about pleasant results in the ocean of life. Samsāra is being likened to the ocean of existence, and pleasant results refers to results of happiness, which is perhaps a better way of understanding it. What one is speaking about is that the basic reason one has not been liberated from saṃsāra comes down to the fact that one is still seeking the pleasurable experiences of saṃsāra, the results of saṃsāra, which are samsaric pleasures.
Without reversing the tendency we have to strive for these types of things, we have no hope of being liberated from saṃsāra. How can we reverse this striving for samsaric states? There is no other way than by developing renunciation. We need to seek a way to pacify this tendency to strive for samsaric pleasures. The basic problem is not that we strive for happiness.
It’s the way in which we strive for happiness. It’s the type of happiness that we strive for. We have a tendency to strive only for samsaric pleasures and this is the basic problem. By accepting this path one is not saying that one is no longer allowed to seek pleasures, rather one is making a conscious effort to change the way in which one seeks pleasure, and that is by changing the type of pleasure that one seeks. One tries to not strive for or seek samsaric pleasures.
We can set aside our discussion of dharma just for the moment and just look at happiness in this lifetime. We all recognise that we need happiness in this lifetime, and just as we need methods and ways that will allow us to experience happiness. We need to earn some money, we need financial backing, and we need a way to make that money. The way in which we make the money, which provides the basis for experience of happiness in this lifetime, influences the type of happiness we experience. If we were to try to get our money by stealing, by forcefully taking it from another, or by lying, although there might be some pleasure in it, it’s only going to bring about more suffering than it brings about happiness.
Even in this lifetime, one needs to go about establishing the basis for one’s happiness in a proper way as opposed to an improper way. The improper way is going to lead to problems. That is what is being said here also. Just as in this lifetime it is important that we engage in proper methods to earn money and so on, so that we may experience happiness. Similarly, the way in which we seek happiness needs to be done in a proper way.
However, we pursue proper ways for happiness, and no longer do so in a samsaric manner, but do so in a manner of liberation. To reiterate, the basic point being made is that it’s not that we are not permitted to pursue happiness it’s that we need to adjust the way in which we pursue happiness. The way to do so is to pacify this tendency of ours to strive for the pleasurable results of saṃsāra. When one considers whether or not there is liberation to be attained, or whether or not it is possible to eliminate suffering completely, one has to take into consideration whether or not the causes for liberation exist. One has to take into consideration whether or not it’s possible to eliminate the causes of suffering itself.
If one wants evidence of this, one ought to study these three principal aspects of the pathrenunciation, bodhicitta, and the correct view. Geshe-la has the confidence that by studying the three principal aspects of the paththe evidence for the fact that it is possible to eliminate suffering and its causes completely the evidence for the fact that the causes for liberation and liberation itself exist, and the causes for Buddhahood and the state of Buddhahood actually exist. This evidence, illustrating that these are clearly the case, will make itself known through an in-depth study of renunciation, bodhicitta and the correct view. If we are able to maintain this study over the four weeks, then at the end of the four weeks, we’ll be able to see quite clearly how much we actually know. It is the case that oftentimes you can just float through a study period thinking that you understand what is being taught and feel like you’ve grasped the material.
And then all of a sudden, when someone asks you questions about what’s being taught, it becomes quite clear how much you really know and how much you don’t. Similarly, by coming to these teachings over the next four weeks and being asked about them at the end, we will be able to gain a better and clearer picture of what exactly we understand and what we don’t. Student: You said something earlier about uncontrived bodhicitta. Can you explain what that means? The term uncontrived bodhicitta refers to developing bodhicitta to such an extent that bodhicitta arises naturally.
It’s not artificial. It is uncontrived. The way that this comes about is by continuously meditating on not only the object of bodhicitta, but also by meditating in such a way that one genuinely has the feeling that one’s mind is imbued with bodhicitta. After some time, if one meditates with the attitude that one’s mind is actually bodhicitta, and when one is constantly contemplating the objects of bodhicitta, the actual bodhicitta itself will arise without any effort. In Tibetan, the term uncontrived is meant to refer only to positive aspects of mind.
However, negative aspects of mind, such as anger, are almost uncontrived, in the sense that anger can arise almost effortlessly. The fact that anger, because we’ve been so habituated to it over time, arises almost effortlessly, indicates that a more positive aspect of mind such as bodhicitta can also arise in an effortless way, if we habituate ourselves with it to the same degree. Look at the way in which anger arises effortlessly. Sometimes when one is in a particular mood, merely by coming into contact with an object, anger can arise. Without trying to bring it up, anger just arises naturally.
Similarly, when bodhicitta is cultivated in such a way, then just by encountering an object, bodhicitta may arise. Important point is for us to try to generate renunciation, bodhicitta and the correct view in our continuum, that is, in our mind. In order to be able to do so, first we need to gain an understanding of these points. We need to understand what renunciation is, otherwise there is a danger in that we don’t really understand what renunciation is and therefore we become mistaken. Initially we need to focus upon the development of wisdom so that we may be able to generate them in our mind.
The exam is not given to see whether or not one has generated renunciation, bodhicitta, and the correct view The exam is given to determine whether or not one has understood renunciation, bodhicitta, and the correct view.