Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 97-minute teaching, Lama Ribur Rinpoche guides practitioners through the third and fourth major topics in the bodhicitta meditation sequence: recognizing the advantages of cherishing others, and the actual practice of exchanging oneself with others. He begins by grounding the teaching in cause and effect, showing how our current circumstances—health, human rebirth, wealth, and freedom from obstacles—all stem from past actions rooted in cherishing others, while self-cherishing produces suffering and lower rebirths. Using pointed examples and the Tibetan adage “If you want to know who you were, look at your body; if you want to know who you will be, look at your mind,” he demonstrates why Buddhas like Śākyamūni attained enlightenment through cherishing others while ordinary beings remain trapped in saṃsāra by clinging to self-interest. The core practice is tonglen, or taking and giving: breathing in the sufferings of all sentient beings with compassion while visualizing those sufferings striking at self-cherishing thought, and breathing out all one’s happiness and virtue to benefit others with love. He emphasizes this practice develops extraordinary courage, can be trained gradually starting with one’s own sufferings, and becomes most powerful when woven continuously into daily life and the moment of death. Suited for practitioners with some familiarity with Mahāyāna teaching and meditation.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 02Exchanging Self.mp3
UUID: 32c3d0b4-18df-4e1a-87cc-b632f401cd1a
Teacher: Lama Ribur Rinpoche
Collection: Exchanging for others (Lama Ribur Rinpoche)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 97.6 minutes
Words: ~7,466
So now we have we have covered two subjects out of the nine points. Right? Equalizing oneself with others, And the disadvantages, considering disadvantages of self-cherishing action. So I know even the second subject, recognizing the disadvantages of self-cherishing thought, that’s not an easy subject to meditate. Yet, with effort and continuity, you can be confident that there will be a change.
Mhmm. So now the third subject is contemplating the advantages of cherishing others. And at this point, again, this is another meditation subject. It’s another meditation session. Again, you go as before the preparations or sometime they’re called preliminaries or prep preliminary practices.
Anyway, up to the request of the lama, the all encompassing guru in the top of your crown and consider the verse from Śāntideva. And again, says and then on the opposite way around, whatever we have been just discussing up to now, that all the disadvantages and sufferings and bad things in the world and beyond for oneself and others arise from cherishing oneself, and yet all the goodness, all the happiness of this world and beyond arise from wishing others to be happy. So even if for for oneself, if you are able to switch the focus on yourself to others and wishing others to be happy just the way you do it for yourself. You yourself alone will receive, by way of this change in the mind, unconceivable advantages. Like, for instance, the fact that we are all we are human beings.
And on top of being human beings, our life are characterized by by the freedoms and endowments. Means we have precious human rebirths. And the surroundings are so perfect. The people that we are connected to are so perfect. Everything works so nicely.
It is definitely the work of of having wish others to be happy. It arise from these are happiness. These are favorable conditions that arise from cherishing others. Whatever whatever is whatever exists, in order to exist, needs, causes, and condition is is not just there by itself. It just doesn’t happen randomly or because because it be because it is.
It is not in that way. Right? It requires causes and conditions and upon the ripening, the fruition ripening of these causes and condition, then you get this particular result that is what whatever the phenomena the existing phenomena. So in this way, the same goes for us. Now being human beings, having freedoms and endowments and so forth, enjoying whatever we are able to enjoy that is not just because it it because it’s it or because at random that that for some reason happened.
This just happened. It things that don’t happen like that, you know. They require causes and conditions. So the causes and conditions of this very positive, fruitful result that we’re having right now are having in past life practice the morality of protecting lives, Means not having killed. That means cherishing other lives.
Cherishing other lives. Because cherishing others because cherishing other lives, as a result, you get to be reborn as a human being, not as an animal or something else. Know, but on the top of that, it’s not that we’re just merely human beings. Yeah. We are human beings, but also we have a particular set of situations such as being meeting the dharma, having perfect dharma friends around, so on and so forth.
Each of that as well along with each of the eight freedoms and endowments of the eighteen characteristics of precious human, each of them requires an unbelievable amount of positive actions that are all accumulated on the basis of cherishing others. Therefore, even exactly right now, the result that you’re experiencing, it derives from cherishing others. It is like this. That person did perfect practice. That person did perfect cherishing others.
That person did perfect saving lives and protective lives. And as well as because we are healthy, we have long lives, we don’t have major life obstacles and so forth, that is a clear indication that that person really did very well on saving liberating lives and cherishing cherishing other lives. Otherwise, you get the opposite result. Like in Tibet, we used to say, this is actually it it has become a Tibetan saying, but it I think it originates from the Kadampa lamas. If you want to know you who you were, just consider your body now.
And if you want to know who you will be, just consider your mind now. This is very true. Actually, if you want to know if you want to know what kind of past life you had, that is very easy to understand by checking the type of life you’re leading now, the type of body you have. And the fact that you have a a human body, that it is an indication that definitely you protected life because that’s the the very cause of of just having a human body is morality, specifically the morality of not killing. And then on the top of that, you it’s not like it’s not just it.
You also you have your body. You don’t have major handicaps in your you don’t have major handicaps. All your limbs and so on and so forth are very well shaped and in order, that is an indication that you definitely definitely that person practiced. He did big time practice. Patience.
Patience refers to others. You need other people. It means by cherishing others because you cherished others, then you practice patience. You don’t get angry to other people. And then in the same way, if you consider yourself as you might not be, according to you, so rich, But you are quite well off.
Everybody here is quite well in that sense. If you just look at other people’s situations right now in the world, maybe in the third world and so on and so forth, even if you have here in United State states a very humble very humble job, yet comparatively, you’re so much richer than so many people there in Asia. And where that wealth comes from, that result of being able to have perfect enjoyments from generosity. And where the generosity comes from? Because cherishing others, you are generous.
You give to others, and so on and so forth. You see, even the goodness, the very fact that you are able to enjoy a life like you are like you have right now is because you have that person cherish it cherished others in the past very well. And if you go into detail, they just the causes, each individual cause that brings about whatever you have now, it requires an unbelievable practice of the six perfections that are all based upon on cherishing others. And then if you want to know where you will be going or who you will be, consider the situation of your mind now. That refers to excuse me.
If whether your mind whether your mind is more inclined on following on delusions or virtue. It’s as simple as that. If your mind the habituation of your mind in in your mind, delusions are so spontaneous, so easy to come about and for you to follow more than than virtue, the more than a virtual state, then that is a clear indication that if you want to know where you’ll be going, you know by it. You have no way out. You you went no way out, but what we call the evil gone or definitely lower rebirths than you have now.
While on the opposite way around, if your mind is more inclined towards virtues, virtue it is easy to follow virtues and you put effort into practicing virtues and cherishing others, that’s a clear indication that you will go from one high place to another one. In that way, you should consider your situation. Therefore, now it’s totally up to you. If you don’t like to have a situation worse than you have now, then you have no way out but practicing cherishing So he you see, because the result the result of killing or harming others, that is cherishing because cherishing oneself and harming others, then you get short life. You don’t get human bodies.
Even if you do, you are you are constantly your life your life will be short. You’ll have loss of sickness, loss of life’s obstacles, and so on and so forth. So result of cherishing others, you have protected life, and now you have you have perfect human body, your life are well and sound, and you have no major life obstacles. So in the same way, you have perfect you have perfect enjoyments. Why?
Because cherishing others, you make generosity. You help others by way of generosity, and as a result, what as a result, what you get? You get perfect conditions, wealth, and so forth. As a result of stealing, that is the opposite way around, taking whatever is not yours, then you you get the opposite way. So from from that, you can judge whether what is the road that needs to be taken.
And Śāntideva advises us this point. In short, you don’t need to think about much about this point. It’s so clear. The advantages of cherishing others are so clear. Just look at the Buddhas.
All the Buddhas, they have become Buddhas because they have cherished they have cherished others. And you, your situation is still the same, is still so miserable. Why? Because cherishing yourself. And if you can see they’re just one of the Buddhas, Buddha Śākyamūni, as well as all the other Buddhas before becoming Buddha.
Weren’t Buddha since beginningless time. They actually were like me, like us, certain beings wandering from one existence to to another, always characterized by intense sufferings, most of the time in the lower realms. And suddenly, what happened, the change happened when they discovered that how more important it is to cherish to cherish others than oneself, and they stopped cherishing one themselves, and they began cherishing others. On the basic in the basis of cherishing others, they have accumulated all the qualities that need to be accumulated. They have abandoned all the faults and negativities that need to be abandoned.
They have reached the state of Buddha and the perfect a perfectly blissful state of Buddha where you constantly, spontaneously can perform can perform beneficial activities to others. While in our case, we are still sentient beings, ordinary sentient beings wandering from one existence to another since beginning this time. Even now we have we have achieved a precious human body, we still are in the position of not knowing whether in our our next life would be would be in the lower realms. It would be in the lower realms or not. So we’re still facing facing a very harsh situation.
And the difference and the reason why we’re still sentient beings ordinary beings wandering in saṃsāra existence is because we’re still clinging to cherishing ourself more than others. And the other this point, Śāntideva is very sharp, comes out very sharp, like in a scolding way. And saying, we want to achieve the perfect enlightenment and the condition for us to achieve the perfect enlightenment are the Buddhas, the Lamas, the Buddhas, and the sentient beings equally. It depends equally from them. Yet yet we are yet we consider so high the buddhas and the lamas, and we give so much consideration to that, while on the other side, sentient beings who are the same weight condition for us to achieve enlightenment, we don’t care at all.
What kind of attitude is that? And why Śāntideva tells us in this way, the reason is that the very most important cause and condition to achieve enlightenment, to achieve the state of Buddha, to become perfect perfectly enlightened being, free oneself of all this all the faults and achieving all the perfect perfection of all the qualities is bodhicitta. Bodhicitta arises from great compassion, and great compassion arises from sentient beings. From whom for whom you have great compassion, the sentient beings. So therefore, the main object of bodhicitta and compassion are the one of the main causes to the realization to an achievement of enlightenment state of Buddha are is actually are actually sentient beings.
It is because they are sentient beings in need that you you can practice generosity on the basis of generosity, you’re advancing to the path. It is because they are sentient beings in need that you practice saving life and morality. It is because they are sentient beings that they make you upset that you are able to practice patience and achieve the perfection of patience. If nobody makes you upset, how are you gonna practice patience in the first place? And without the practice of perfection of practice of patience, you’re not gonna achieve enlightenment.
Therefore, all these sentient beings, the achievement of enlightenment depends on the kindness of all these sentient beings. This is why Śāntideva’s is saying, why do we keep in so much respect the Buddhas and we don’t consider at all the sentient beings? Then both of them are important for us to achieve enlightenment — the Buddhas and the sentient beings Like, the more in the case of the most precious one, Atisha, along with him, he had lots of people in Tibet attending and serving and doing things within, like his attendants. And he had two particular individual Indians. He had brought them from India.
They traveled with with with Atisha from India, and they were just impossible. They were real too impossible individual, often scolding Atisha, oh, you shouldn’t do this. You shouldn’t do that. Why we do this? Why we do that?
Really impossible to the point that from Dromtönpa, and his disciples, they approached Atisha, and they they they were worried about it because these people were really making were really were making trouble. Jo, most precious one, we don’t need them, really. You know, we have so many around already. We can perfectly take care of you and the activities around here. We don’t need them to make so much trouble to to to you, most precious one, and he said, no.
No. Don’t say that. I brought them with me from India because my very practice of patience is due to their kindness that I can accumulate so many virtues and purify so many negative karma. If I didn’t have the two of them, where am I going to practice patience? So if for anyone who’s really interested into practices into practicing patience, it is indispensable to have someone someone like that.
Someone someone who makes you upset. And you come to know this point in-depth if you really analyze and meditate on the kindness of sentient beings. Not only the kindness of sentient beings when they’ve been your mothers, but also the kindness of sentient beings at all the time. Also, when they’re not when they’re not when they were not your mothers, all other sentient beings are constantly your from life after life, you are totally and constantly depend on them, on their kindness. If you’re really analyzing that this point, then you come to know how kind they are and how important is to cherish them.
Like, whatever we are able to enjoy, whether it be in a nice beautiful house, surrounding wealth, whether we are famous and so many people appreciates us.
All this depends because others. Because so many others, not just one, so many others are so kind to us that we receive these results that we enjoy so much. It’s not just because us. And this is something that you have to consider in-depth because otherwise, on a superficial basis, you might be thinking, I own my house. You know?
So that’s my house. I own my house because I bought my house. It’s not particular accounts because somebody else has given me has extended the kindness of giving me the house, but that also is wrong. That’s very superficial. If you go into it, you own the house because you had enough money to buy a house.
Why you have enough money to buy a house? Then you at this point must say because I work hard. But why are you able to work hard? First of all, money, you cannot make money by yourself. Right?
It’s not that made by by you. Also, that that that exchange itself, it comes because of others. It’s there because of others. Even the job, the work that you do that makes possible for you to enjoy whatever you enjoy, house, car, whatever it is there, is because there are others that makes you makes possible for you to be able to work. Without others, you wouldn’t be working.
Without working, you wouldn’t be earning money. Without earning money, you wouldn’t be owning a house, and so on and so forth. In short, whatever you enjoy, whatever whatever is there that you consider your enjoyment. Okay? If you go down the bottom line, it is there because the kindness of others.
Therefore So therefore therefore, since when when you consider in this way, you come to a point, the point that you see clearly that since since beginningless time, whatever I was I I enjoyed, whatever I’m able to enjoy now, it totally, exclusively relies on the kindness of other others. It is because others then, therefore, all the more, it should be my responsibility for myself alone to make sure that others are well, to make sure that I benefit others. These others from they are the one whom I derive all the goodness. So now for the fourth point, the actual exchange attitude of exchanging oneself with others. So at this point, in which I went through several verses of of of the training on bodhicitta found in the Lama Chöpa.
So we are at the point in which I said, therefore, blessed me to be able to exchange myself with others. And this point in your contemplation, in your meditation, it comes exactly after having contemplated the disadvantages of cherishing yourself and the advantages of cherishing others. Therefore, that basis you have recognized now what is the source, the evil one, the demon, the source of all the sufferings, that is self-cherishing thought that has taken possession of your mind. What is the very source of all the goodness of all the happiness and and happy experience for yourself and all sentient beings? That is the mind of cherishing others, altruism.
Therefore, what you do, you change. You change the focus. You change that very focus. Until now, you’ve been focused upon yourself, and you have disregarded others. So now, you change that focus, that attitude.
You swap the attitude right now. So it means that you focus on constant on benefiting others while neglect that mind that is neglecting others, it goes on you. So that is exchanging oneself with others. So you understand? This this is a change of an exchange of attitude, of focus, of one’s attitude.
It’s not the physical exchange. It’s not that you go there where everybody else is and you bring where everybody else where you are. It’s an exchange of attitude. Right? You’ve been focusing on yourself has been the most important.
Now you change that. You focus on with the same strength on others as being the most important. That is as a result of all this contemplation and meditation you’ve been going through. So at that point when you recognize the disadvantages and so on and so forth, then you you have pointed out the position of those two attitude very clearly. Up to now, I’ve been cherishing myself, concentrating, being obsessed with my happiness and avoiding suffering for myself, having I totally disregard others in this process.
So now I changed the focus of that happiness is gonna be others while the disregard is gonna be on my others myself. So you you move the attitude that is exchanging exchanging oneself with others. And you do that, it it is something that comes from from deeply within you, from deeply within you from now on, I’m going to cherish others more than oneself. Like, it is something that happens within. You you you set a very strong determination up to now.
I’ve been so preoccupied with myself, cherishing constantly myself, totally disregarding others. Now, in the same with the same strength, I’ve been cherishing myself, I’m going to cherish cherish others. And up to now, I’ve been disregarding others. So with the same strength, I’ve been disregarding others. I’m going to disregard myself.
That is exchanging myself with others. So this was for the actual attitude of exchanging myself with others. Now on this basis, the way of meditating, that is giving and taking. And now this is I know that the subject up to now has been relatively difficult for the beginners or the new people who have come to the teachings who were were not very familiar to the teachings. Maybe they’re all the students have more familiarity with this kind of meditation and attitude, and they have acquired on this basis more courage.
This kind of practice requires courage. Okay? So therefore, for those who don’t have have not developed yet enough strength of courage, that might be a difficult practice to approach right now. Yet, if you now if you put enough energy into practicing Tonglen or giving and taking, that practice is the very foundation of courage. Your courage is going to increase so much on the basis of this practice.
A. So now, first of all, the practice is done on the basis of love and compassion. With the with the compassion you take and with the love you give. What you take is the sufferings of all sentient beings along with the their causes and conditions for their sufferings, such as delusions and negative actions and so on and so forth. You take it upon yourself.
You visualize them in the aspect of sharp tips of sharp hairs, like tips of sharp hairs, like a huge black cloud of these tips of sharp hairs coming towards you. First, you have to you have to develop compassion. You have to develop great compassion considering their sufferings, their unbearable sufferings that they main experience, and you generate this very strong determination. May all their sufferings around their causes ripen upon me right now. And with that attitude, you visualize all their sufferings and and coming towards you and absorbing right in the center of your heart, of your chest, where normally the demon of self-cherishing thought is identified.
It’s there. That hold of cherishing yourself so dearly. So all this ripening exactly there, like striking striking at it very strongly. You can do if you want, you can do this very elaborately by thinking in detail of all the sufferings like the hell beings and so on and so forth, the hot hell, the cold hell, and so forth. Each of their sufferings generating deep compassion and visualizing their sufferings, the causes of these sufferings ripening within you right in the center of the demon heart of the self-cherishing thought.
So in this, you you need to have you need to have great compassion considering their sufferings. Then if you do in detail, then you go through each of the sufferings of this of sentient beings, such as hell beings, animals, human beings, and so on and so forth. And you need to have a very strong determination. May all the sufferings their sufferings and the causes of their sufferings ripen up on me right now. And while you do this, you also meditate with joy that thus they are liberated, that you have liberated them from their This is this is actually a meditation on the meditation on the great courage.
Because this is a meditation of great courage. Therefore, at the beginning, or for some people, for some beginners, that might be difficult to start to start right away by thinking of having all the sufferings of others ripening upon oneself. That requires strength of courage and determination. So if this is the case, then if this is the case, you found yourself in this situation that you can you cannot quite take it. You know?
You cannot quite take it. Then it means you have to go gradually. You first begin with yourself by thinking about the sufferings you’re going to experience tonight, the sufferings you’re going to experience tomorrow, The suffering you’re going to experience this month, this year, the next year. The suffering up to the suffering you’re going to experience and like that. So you train train first with your own sufferings.
Once you’re comfortable with that, once you have developed enough courage to take at least your own sufferings, then you begin to take the sufferings of the very the people who are very close to you, such as your parents or your siblings or your very dear friends. Once you’re able to do that in your meditation, you develop enough courage for that, then you pass it to the people who to your friends, and then to the people you don’t know, and then to your enemies, and then slowly, slowly, you widen your spectrum as as as much as your courage allows you, and then you encompass all sentient beings in this planet, then you go to each and every sentient beings up to the point that you’re you’re able to take. And if when you when you take upon when you do the meditation of taking the sufferings of of sentient beings upon yourself, you should not just think that they’re just somewhat disappear along the way they’re coming, you know, or or just they’re they’re they’re kind of accumulating or amassing around yourself. No. They go right there in the center of self-cherishing thought.
They strike it. They go there and they strike it. If you are able to do this, you are accumulating an incredible mass of merits. Be very easy and fast for you to to perfect and complete the accumulation of merits. And for those who are very advanced practitioner in the path of love and compassion, they’re actually in situations in certain situations, they’re actually able to relieve the sufferings of the sentient beings of the sentient beings directly.
And for those who are really in to practice Tonglen, taking and giving, then whenever they experience whenever this practitioner experience sufferings or pains. Well, even if they experience sufferings of pain, we are all experiencing suffering of pain. Sooner or later, we are all all going to die as well. So therefore, if someone is into practice the practice of Tonglen, of taking and giving, then as with an incredible resolution in his or in her mind, whenever a pain, whenever a sickness, whenever an unfavorable condition arises arises, immediately, he puts it in the practice of Tonglen by taking all the sufferings of all sentient beings exactly on that. This is the only practice that this person does, that this practitioner would actually embrace that particular problem, that particular sickness, that particular unfavorable circumstances in order to practice more deeply taking and giving.
And for this person, for such a person, although that doesn’t relieve him or her of that particular sickness, of that particular problem, of that particular unfavorable circumstances, the immediate result would be that their mind, his or her mind, would be totally unaffected by the sickness or by unfavorable circumstances. And this is this is very true. This that this practice brings an unbelievable amount of courage and peace of mind as well right when you need it. This I I can tell you for sure. And It’s not that good.
And this I I can tell you for sure from my own experience, my very own experience. When you’re going through real big trouble in your life, real big time trouble in your life, if you approach the troubles and the problems and the sufferings with this attitude with this attitude, even if you just approach it with the attitude well, these troubles, these circumstances, they’re ripening on me. It is because I put the causes before. Whether they’re ripening now, sooner or later, I’m going to experience them because I have accumulated the causes. So therefore, they ripen now today with this particular circumstances, fantastic.
I’m gonna I’m by the way I’m experiencing, I’m getting rid of them. Something that sooner or later anyway I will have to experience. And then slowly, when you gradually develop your mind and your attitude or approach in your life in this way, there will be a point that for sure there is a point when you actually come to think, well then, there is trouble now, there is pain now, there is sickness now. Fantastic. You are actually happy.
You are actually happy. The more they come, the better it is. You really, from the depth of your mind, you come to think the more the better, and your mind would be so happy. It is very it is very useful for for your mind to think anyway to think that anyway whatever you experience that you don’t like, whatever unfavorable circumstances you’re going through are arising because your own karma, that means actions, karma seeds that you yourself have planned. You are the door of that.
You are the door. In that way, you have nobody else to point out but that yourself, your karma, not anybody else outside. You’re just going through yourself alone. This is so beneficial. This is totally my experience.
And, also, we are all we are all in the nature of impermanence. Whether we like it or not, we are going to die sooner or later. That doesn’t make difference where we like the thought or we don’t like the thought of it. It is going to happen for sure because we are only the nature of impermanence. And from the Buddhist approach point of view, well, at the moment of death, there are lots of things that you could do.
There are lots of things that in the way that you can set your mind and you can do this and that and that. I believe the best thing is training in Tonglen, in taking and giving. If you train right now in this particular transformation and you use it right at the moment even if you don’t do anything else and right at the moment when you die, you’re dying within the practice of taking and giving. For sure, you’re going to be born as human being. For sure, you’re going to meet the teachers again.
For sure, you’re going to be born in the lineage of Mahāyāna, in the Mahāyāna lineage. Like like, this is this is exactly what I think. This is exactly what I really like. Because if you practice tantra, for instance, there are lots of things you can do when you die, like taking the three bodies into the path. There are lots of high practices to be done in conjunction of one’s tantric training or secret mantra training.
There are lots of practices involving shooting one’s consciousness into the pure land. There are many ways of doing that as well. There are lots of practices. There are practices which is that is called the consciousness transference yoga and that takes you right away in the pure land supposedly and so on and so forth. Yeah.
I I totally know that there are all these practices and yet when I think about that everybody should has to die sooner or later, the majority of people, they die in pain. They die because there is a condition of sickness or something and right before dying they are in a lot of pain, a great deal of pain. That’s why I think the best way of dying is to practice in Tonglen because you can use right that very condition of your pain, of your sickness to take on right on that all the sufferings of all sentient beings to exchange yourself with others. Right? That condition that that makes you die, it is the very condition that you use to practice.
I think this is the best practice to do at the moment of Then, therefore, if you constantly if you if you put if you make the focus of your Dharma practice in your daily life as the Tonglen, taking and giving, And therefore, you get so habituated that when you die, you you still stick with it, totally clean, clear mind. You don’t you you don’t think about anything else. You just take that as the condition for your Tonglen practice, for the practice of taking and giving. While you’re going through your life, you will acquire a lot of mental happiness and a great deal of courage, I can tell you for sure. And when you die, this courage and this happiness will tag along with you while you’re dying, and then it will bring you further on.
And, like, you know, if you if you just look at the No. And if you look at the example of his own, mister Dalai Lama, I never heard him making prayers to be reborn in a pure land or to have a happy death or or something like that. What what is his main his main dedication, his main prayers is as long as space exist, as long as sentient beings exist, may I myself be with them, liberating them, relieving them from their sufferings. You see, this is the this is the his honest, the Dalai Lama. Never heard him saying, well, when I’m going to pass away, I’m going to practice taking the three bodies into the path, or I’m going to do poa, or I’m going to shoot my consciousness here and there.
That’s the that’s the particular price it does. So now for with the now with the focusing on love, with an attitude of love giving. That is that particular attitude, the wish that all sentient beings be happy be happy with the responsibility of myself alone be able to do to make that possible. It is on the base of this attitude while you’re meditating and you see how wonderful it would be if all sentient beings possess the happiness they wish for, then while you develop this attitude that is called love, while you develop this attitude, immeasurable love, then you you meditate that you’re transforming your own body, your own possession, your own body in whatever is needed by sentient beings, In whatever sentient beings need to be happy, whatever makes them happy, you transform your body in all all these things for them. Like, for instance, transform your body.
In cooling rain, extinguishing the fire of the beings and cooling their sufferings of heat of the sentient beings or in very many warm suns relieving the suffering of cold of the of the cold hell beings and so on in this way. And, like, food Food and drinks to relieve And in in food and drinks to relieve the suffering of hunger and thirst of the pretas, in in wisdom to relieve the suffering of ignorance of the animals, and for human beings, so many things because human beings are are so needy. They always want this and that. So whatever they need, whatever they wish for, you transform into that and so on and so forth. Eventually, you transform yourself in so many types of different offerings, filling up up the skies, offering to the Buddhas and to and to the lamas, making prayers that their activities and their life be free from obstacles and their life be as as long as the space.
And at this point, you can combine your practice as a means of reminding yourself constantly of this practice, of this attitude with the particular verse found in Lama Chopa. Anyway, this is a rough translation. I never do it in English. Basically, you you focus on your lama as with yearning for the blessing and with the wish of may may the sufferings and the cause of suffering of all sentient beings, my mother, ripen upon me right now. And may all my happiness and the virtues, the causes of this happiness ripen upon upon all sentient beings, indeed, ripen upon sentient beings.
So you request the blessing from your lama. There is a verse you can recite in English as well, which repeats this practice. So for you to be constantly mindful of of this practice itself. So why don’t you repeat after me? So the the verses are also translated into English.
If if someone is really into practicing Tonglen, then while practicing taking taking and giving, you keep reciting also these verses, it increases the force of awareness and resolution. In in come in come, they do this as a, like, a retreat practice of Tonglen. They do while doing the meditation on Tonglen, they do sessions, and they recite this verse. They accumulate hundred thousand recitations while meditating on Tonglen. So now we have we reached the point of the two of them combined with your breath.
That right now might be quite a difficult feat to achieve to combine this visualization with with your breath. Yet, no matter how difficult it might appear at the beginning, if you put effort in it, it will come very easy sooner or later. Later. This is so beneficial because we constantly, day and night, we breathe. We breathe in and out.
So therefore, the practices in combining this visualization of taking with compassion and giving with love with your breathing process throughout the day and night. That means when you breathe in when you breathe in, you combine the visualization of take with of taking with compassion upon yourself all the sufferings of what’s in the means as I explained earlier. And when you breathe out, you combine it with giving, transforming your body and your possessions and your roots of merit, wisdom and so on and so forth, and whatever is needed for sentient beings to be happy. So in this way in this way, once you have trained sufficiently in this practice that it comes quite spontaneously whenever you breathe in, you breathe in with compassion all the sufferings of sentient beings, you breathe out with love all your happiness and root of virtues that ripen upon all sentient beings. That means twenty four hours a day, constantly, you will accumulate an incredible amount of virtue.
Basically, all all your each and every second of your life will be immersed in virtue. And so on that, you do that also when you’re going to sleep. When you’re going to sleep, when you place your when you’re just about to sleep, you recollect the practice. You breathe in all the sufferings and so forth, transforming whatever is needed for sentient beings with love. And in this way, you fall asleep, then again or throughout all your night will be virtuous.
Yeah. We you will be accumulating the virtues of the Mahāyāna and so on and so forth. So that is very beneficial for that and also very beneficial to develop very strong bodhicitta very fast. Why? Because basically, the breath and the mind are very related to each other.
The mind rides the wings of of one’s breath. Therefore, when you mix your breathing with the practice of bodhicitta, your mind will be greatly affected. So then Yeah. At this point, you have you have gone through this process of meditating first, equalizing oneself with others, and then recognizing the disadvantages of self-cherishing thought, the advantages of cherishing others, and actual thought of exchanging yourself with others. And on the base of that as well, the practice of taking upon yourself the suffering of all sentient beings and giving to all sentient beings all your roots roots of virtues, possessions, and so forth, along with the combined the practice of awareness with the reciting the particular verses and combine that with the meditation on the breath while you breathe in, taking the suffering of all sentient beings and breathing out all your virtues and beneficial things and so on and so forth with love for all sentient beings.
At this point at this point, a result of this training, you develop a very strong courage, an uncommon sense of courage. You have looked at the situation of all sentient beings, you see them totally flooded with sufferings, unable to free themselves. So you yourself alone, you develop this very strong courage that myself alone, I’m going to actually liberate all sentient beings from the sufferings. I’m going to give to them all the happiness that they wish for. It’s something that it is a form of, like, an ultimate courage that you develop within yourself. And when you check right now, you are not you understand that you are not in the position of being able to do so.
Who is in position of being able to help all sentient beings spontaneously to the vastest, most extensive limits are the Buddhas. So for myself, then you develop the wish of becoming a Buddha, achieving the supreme state of enlightenment in order to benefit of all all sentient beings. That very thought is the precious bodhicitta. So therefore I have offered you a very simplified simple explanation of of the technique of equalizing and exchanging with others of bodhicitta. And as Tsongkhapa Rinpoche instructed us, just listening is not enough.
Once you have listened, you should make it listen meaningful by putting into practice. So this is extremely important. Just listening to the teachings doesn’t make much difference. To really achieve a meaningful to really to be meaningful, whatever you have listened, you should put it into practice right away with constants. It means constantly put it into practice.
Of course, there are various levels of listeners depending on different capacities. Each listener will be able to put it into practice to to certain extent. But whatever is the extent or your frame of capacities of understanding of capability, I’m requesting you to put that much into practice and to keep doing it and not to do it just for a while and stop it. The best thing would be that as much as you can, you put in your daily practice the meditation of taking and giving of bodhicitta. And in your daily life, you relate to others with affection, with love and affection.
You abandon harming people, harming sentient beings, whoever it is, and you relate with affection considering their plight, considering their sufferings, considering their problems, and with an attitude of of wanting to free them, wanting them to be free from their problem, from their sufferings, and for and so on and so forth. So please do this as much as you can. And as it is said, advising us in the path by saying this very sharp saying: thousands of deities, meditations on deities. Each of them has their mantras and their deity teachings, and yet the Dharma doesn’t get done in the mind, within the mind. This is an indication that the Dharma practice is not a recitation of mantra, it’s not visualization of deity or this or that.
It is an actual mind transformation. The Dharma should be within the mind, should act in the mind, should act the transformation in the mind. And the best way, it it means is a thought processing. It’s a thought is is a way of thinking, the practice the Dharma practice. And what is the best way of thinking but bodhicitta?
There is nothing highest. There’s no higher thought than bodhicitta. Therefore, I feel very lucky to be able to have offered to you this teaching on bodhicitta. You should also feel very lucky. Therefore, I’m very grateful to you for giving me this opportunity to to discuss and to teach about bodhicitta.
You yourself also should be should feel very fortunate. And we have accumulate it’s been so good. I’m very pleased about this. And therefore, we have accumulated a great deal of merits and virtues. Let’s dedicate these virtues for the preservation of the teachings of Je Rinpoche in this world as long as possible.
So let’s recite together.