Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. What separates a merely good motive from an excellent one? In this 32-minute commentary, Khensur Rinpoche opens by establishing that bodhicitta — the aspiration to achieve enlightenment for the sake of all beings — is the indispensable foundation for every Mahāyāna practice, sūtra or tantra alike. He unpacks bodhicitta’s two component aspirations and traces the full causal sequence that must be cultivated before either can arise. The session’s core is a careful comparison of two complete methods for generating bodhicitta: the seven-point cause-and-effect approach from Atisha’s lineage, suited to practitioners of moderate determination, and Śāntideva’s equalizing-and-exchanging method — which culminates in taking-and-giving meditation — suited to those of stronger resolve. Aimed at practitioners following a structured Lamrim path.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 06 GS 1994 Easter.mp3
UUID: 09f9482a-1beb-48e8-8678-b4651c598248
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: The Great Scope (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1994 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 32.0 minutes
Words: ~1,891
In order to have an excellent and equally good actual practice, one in the first place needs an equally good or excellent motive, the intention. And it is because of that here in the practice, one needs the excellent motive, excellent intention of precious bodhicitta, the precious enlightenment mind. Not only in the non-tantric non-tantric discourse or sūtra part one needs to have in the first place the motive for precious enlightened mind. But later on in the advanced tantric practices, there too the very beginning motive one needs throughout and throughout practice is still the same. It has to be the precious precious bodhicitta, the enlightenment mind.
In a way, we then have that no matter whatever practices one does in the great vehicle, either it is the non tantric long duration taking discourse or sūtra path or it is the advanced speedy tantric path in both, the motive, the intention the practitioner start the practice must be with the same motive of enlightenment mind. The precious mind of enlightenment itself is of two parts, and the two parts are called the two intentions, two aspiration or two aspirations. The two parts are called two aspiration. The first aspiration is the aspiration to achieve enlightenment. By enlightenment, as we just ahead went over, it meant purified endowed state, purified of all faults of the mind and endowed with all excellent qualities of the mind.
It is the aspiration to achieve such enlightenment. So that becomes one part, the one aspiration of the precious mind of enlightenment. The second part, the second aspiration is the aspiration to, sorry, accomplish others’ welfare, which is to or wishing to remove others’ suffering to remove others’ suffering. When the actual mind of enlightenment is developed, it is generated, it has the aspiration to achieve enlightenment as the part which is there with it all the time, the mind of enlightenment. But the aspiration to benefit others has to be the preceding aspiration before one generates the mind of enlightenment.
So firstly one has to develop the aspiration to benefit others through which aspiration to through which the precious enlightenment mind is generated and that has the present aspect of wishing to attain enlightenment. Now here, when one is developing precious mind of enlightenment, one has to firstly has to develop the aspiration to benefit others to benefit others. Because when a bodhisattva when a bodhisattva has such precious mind of enlightenment, the bodhisattva always has the wish to remove others’ suffering and to place others, meaning all sentient beings, to excellent happiness. So that thought has to be completely trained to perfection. And it is based the understanding that others are more important than oneself by numbers and so forth.
Now in order to benefit others and this way to accomplish others welfare one checks personally do one does one have the capability to do to do that and one finds that one will not be able to do that until firstly one oneself has overcome all one’s mental faults, weaknesses, and until one oneself has acquired all the excellent qualities of mind. On that understanding one comes to the understanding that if I achieve that state free of all force and complete with all excellent qualities, the state of enlightenment, then it is possible after that that I can actually remove all others from suffering and bring bring excellent happiness to others. If I don’t achieve that enlightenment myself, then it is not possible for others to be led to that state. So through such way of conclusive understanding one thinks I must somehow attain that state of enlightenment. And that in brief in brief becomes the mind aspiring to achieve enlightenment, one of the two parts which constitutes to develop the precious mind of enlightenment and that aspiration to achieve enlightenment is the mind which is ever present with the precious enlightened mind.
It is there itself with the precious mind of enlightenment when it is developed and throughout afterwards. Now in this way, the aspiration to achieve enlightenment is the mind which is with the mind to enlightenment itself. And in order to have these two mind, mind, one firstly must develop the wish to benefit other, the aspiration to accomplish other’s welfare. That is the cause for which the actual aspiration to achieve enlightenment and the enlightened mind itself are produced. And in this way there’s a cause and effect relationship without the cause the other would not be achieved.
And after all, when the precious mind of enlightenment in this way is analyzed one finds that to have the true path which comprise the precious mind of enlightenment, one first must have developed the special thought, the exalted thought. And in order to develop that one needs to have developed loving kindness and to develop that compassion. In a way we can look at it as a series of ordered resulting event in sequence without the first the other would not happen. So precious mind of enlightenment being, say, on the fifth stage here, as a result, must first depend on its next preceding cause, which is the exalted thought, the special thought. So to develop mind to enlightenment, one needs to first develop the exalted thought, the hope of wishing to actually accomplish others’ welfare by oneself alone.
In order to develop the exalted thought, one needs to develop firstly compassion. In order to develop compassion, one first should have developed delightful loving kindness, where one views all sentient beings as delightful, likable, and then develops the loving kindness. Develop delightful loving kindness, one needs to first develop the thought remembering to repay the kindness of all other beings. And before that, which is the thought remembering to repay the kindness of all other beings, before that one first has to develop the thought remembering others’ kindness or thought being aware of how kind all others have been and are. Or to or to come to the awareness how kind all others are, one needs first to develop the awareness that all sentient beings are one’s mothers.
So it is like a steps where if one doesn’t have lower steps, one would not be able to climb onto and arrive on the higher steps, on a ladder. This is one of the methods to develop precious mind of enlightenment where the stages of mental development are of seven parts, and it is in the tradition of the great and a great kind hearted teacher, Atisha, and the lineage dating back goes to great masters like Candrakīrti, Chandragomin and so forth. And this method between the two types of generating between the two methods of generating enlightened mind, it is called the method of seven point cause and effect. The first six being the causes producing the seventh, the actual precious enlightenment mind. This way of developing our bodhicitta enlightened mind is for those who are of those who are of small mental bravery.
And if they pick up such a method to develop mind of enlightenment, then it suits their small mental bravery, and in that way it is very exactly suitable to the way they can handle their practices. Now for those who are of great mental bravery and determination, determination who wants to very quickly, quickly generate precious mind of enlightenment and very quickly wishes to achieve Buddhahood, for them there is the method of exchanging and equalizing and exchanging oneself with others and this method comes from the lineage of the great teacher Śāntideva and here the some aspect of the method is similar to the previous seven point cause and effect, for example, like the aspiration to benefit others and the exalted thought are similar, but there are seven other parts which slightly differs. A way to present it clearly we can start, say firstly in this method one needs to develop equanimity thinking like oneself, others do not want suffering and wishes happiness. Having developed that equanimity then one thinks the next step, the evils or the shortcomings and the destructiveness of self-cherishing thought. How?
If one has such thought only thinking about one’s own benefit and in that way so self-cherishing, so self centered, how all unwanted experiences, how all traumatic problems and so forth one experiences result from that. Following that, one thinks on third point which is the benefits and the advantages of the thought cherishing others, the thought considering others as dear, how all wanted happiness and how all delightful wanted experiences one wished to have, they all come forth as a result from this thought of cherishing others. In this way, these are the first three orders of the causes. So those are the three, and then the next is related obviously with the first three parts. Because here, one with awareness that if one harbors self-cherishing, there’s all the shortcomings, there’s all the evils, whereas if one cherishes others, there’s all the virtues, all the benefit.
So in this way, by knowing the difference of the two, one really makes the determination that I must forsake self-cherishing thought, that I must develop the thought wishing others benefits, so the thought considering others dear. And with such determination to replace the two, one actually changes, one actually changes, replaces one with the other. And that’s the next part. Now, with having made such decision, one goes into the actual exchange training. And with that, firstly, one starts with the practice of taking other suffering upon oneself with the force of compassion, thinking that how pitiful it is that all other sentient beings are suffering with such tormenting suffering.
I wish that may they be without suffering and all their sufferings been received upon me. So one does the taking part with the meditation on compassion and with the force of compassion and takes the others suffering in one’s meditation upon one’s self. That becomes the number fourth part. And next, with the meditation on loving kindness and with the force of loving kindness, one sends one’s happiness to all other sentient beings. And that is one next part, the next one.
And in this way through the force of the two, one then develops a special thought, the exalted thought, and now in this method we have firstly the equanimity and then the awareness of the shortcomings of self-cherishing thought, the benefits of the thought cherishing others as the third and fourth with the force of compassion taking others suffering upon oneself. And fifth, with the force of loving kindness one gives the happiness of oneself to others. And so principally, we first have the five major causes. These with the addition of special thought and the mind of mind generation which is synonymous with mind thinking of others benefit or wishing to accomplish others benefit together makes seven part training. And in this method as well, we can see the format of mental development of courses as comprising of seven major parts.
This instruction of developing method of precious mind of enlightenment is in the system of great Śāntideva, and it is a method for practitioners who are of great mental determination and power, bravery, who wishes in order to benefit other sentient beings, achieve Buddhahood as quickly as possible. Yet, it is explained by the teacher, Śāntideva.