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Chapter One

The Heart of Mahayana Practice

When we study and practice according to any complete presentation of the stages of the path leading to enlightenment, we should not consider the insights associated with the most limited and intermediate levels of spiritual capacity as distinct from those cultivated by people with the greatest capacity, since these insights are basic and essential to all Mahayana practices. A Mahayana practitioner focuses on them with concern for the well-being of all living creatures.

    It is not sufficient for a teaching to belong to the Great Vehicle. Those who teach it and those who study and practice it should be motivated by the wish to gain enlightenment for the sake of all living beings.

    Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment succinctly summarizes the three levels of capacity, reminding us that anything done for the well-being of this life is not even considered an authentic practice of the Buddha's teaching. For a practice to be authentic it should be orientated towards future lives. The practices of those whose capacity is limited concentrate on developing strong refuge in the Three Jewels and a firm conviction regarding the connection between actions and their effects.

    The practices of those with an intermediate capacity center on the understanding that any condition within cyclic existence is fraught with one kind of suffering or another. These practitioners focus on the attainment of liberation from this state through the three kinds of higher training—in ethical discipline, concentration andwisdom. Although liberation is possible as a result of familiarizing ourselves with an experiential understanding of the four noble truths, this will not fulfill our highest potential nor will we be able to help others in the most effective way. Therefore, ideally, we should leave aside the paths of Hearers and Solitary Realizers, embarking from the outset in the Great Vehicle bound for complete enlightenment with the intention to free all beings from their suffering, which we have come to understand well by first considering our own condition. Through the development of the altruistic intention we can accomplish all our short- and long-term aims without the need for austere practices.

    What kind of person has the capacity to engage in the practices of the Great Vehicle? Those whose aim is restricted to personal liberation lack the necessary mental strength. Just to be concerned with the alleviation of our own suffering and the acquisition of happiness does not set us apart from animals, since they do as much.

    The sun and moon give light to the earth. They do it without prejudice or pride and are never discouraged by their task. The earth willingly supports everything animate and inanimate upon it without considering it a burden. It does not feel dismayed if something is taken from it, nor delighted when something is deposited in it. A true practitioner of the Great Vehicle considers it no burden to accept personal responsibility for others but does so willingly. A Bodhisattva is not discouraged by the task of trying to help all living beings to find happiness and gladly works for all without any prejudice. We should honestly ask ourselves whether we are or even wish to be like this. Hearing or reading about it should at least make us want to become more kind and helpful.

The Benefits of Developing the Altruistic Intention

The altruistic intention is what turns us into Mahayana practitioners, genuine practitioners of the Great Vehicle. Our enthusiasm to develop the altruistic intention needs to become as great as a child's enthusiasm for play. Considering the many advantages it brings will give us the incentive to develop it. Shantideva devotes the first chapter of his Way of the Bodhisattva to this. In his Great Exposition of the Stages of the Path Je Tsongkhapa mentions the following ten benefits of developing the altruistic intention:

    1. It is the sole way into the Great Vehicle. The altruistic intention is the deciding factor. If our wish to become enlightened in order to help all living beings is superficial, we are only seeming practitioners of the Great Vehicle. No matter how great our knowledge is or how intensively we practice even the two stages of tantra, without the altruistic intention we will never attain enlightenment. We cannot even reach the Mahayana path of accumulation, nor will what we are doing count as a Mahayana practice. On the other hand, someone with the altruistic intention but with no other special abilities is creating the cause for complete enlightenment and is performing a Bodhisattva practice by saying just one mantra or giving a handful of food to an animal. In the Precious Garland Nagarjuna reminds his friend the king that if he wants to become enlightened, the basic requirement is the altruistic intention to do so for others' sake and that he must make it as firm and unshakable as Mount Meru, the king of mountains:

If you and the world want to attain
Unsurpassable enlightenment,
Its roots are the altruistic intention,
As stable as the king of mountains,
Compassion that reaches every quarter
And wisdom that does not rely on duality.

    Without this intention, visualizing deities and celestial mansions is just like a tourist visiting a temple. With only the wish for freedom from cyclic existence and an understanding of the correct view, our tantric practice can yield no more than personal liberation. This is a misuse of the highest practices, which can bring complete enlightenment. Without the wish for freedom from cyclic existence, the altruistic intention, and the correct understanding of reality, intensive tantric practice and strong identification with the deity may even lead to rebirth as a demon. One great master said that without these three, completion stage practices focusing on the energy channels and winds are just like using a pair of bellows.

    2. One is called a "Child of the Conquerors." No matter what other abilities one possesses—one may have clairvoyance or have an excellent understanding of the five fields of knowledge, one may have understood emptiness and overcome the obstructions to liberation posed by the disturbing attitudes and emotions—one will never be called a Bodhisattva without the altruistic intention. But with it, even if one has no other accomplishments, even as an animal, one is a Bodhisattva. When a new Bodhisattva comes into being, the earth, which is the result of past actions performed collectively by its inhabitants, trembles to mark the arrival of one who will help free them from cyclic existence. The thrones of the enlightened ones shake, and there is jubilation like the rejoicing which greets the birth of an heir to a great monarch.

    With tears in his eyes the great master Drubkang Gelek Gyatso advised his disciple Purchok Ngawang Jampa to make the altruistic intention his main practice. He told him that his own teacher Rengo Azara had always insisted that the altruistic intention was the heart of the path to enlightenment and that the practices of the initial and intermediate levels were the means of giving birth to that intention, while practice of the six perfections and of tantra were the ways to strengthen and enhance it.

    Once Drubkang Gelek Gyatso went to visit Rengo Azara, who was seated outside his cave near a thorn bush, engrossed in what he was reading. As Drubkang Gelek Gyatso approached him, he observed that sometimes Rengo Azara looked very pleased and exclaimed, "Well done, well done!" At other times he looked despondent and on the verge of tears. Later, when he enquired about this, Rengo Azara told him that he had been reading stories about the Buddha's past lives. At times he was moved and delighted by the Buddha's great feats for the benefit of others while he was still a Bodhisattva. At other times he couldn't control his tears when he thought about his own behavior and the miserable condition of living beings, our mothers.

    If great practitioners like him were so conscious of all their actions, we can surmise how important it is always to examine our conduct and thoughts. If they match those of such fine practitioners, we can rest easy. If they don't, we can see clearly what needs to be changed.

    When Drubkang Gelek Gyatso was ready to go into retreat he paid a final visit to his master. Rengo Azara said, "I know you must go but I shall miss you. These days it is so rare to find anyone with whom to talk about the altruistic intention, but with you I can, and it always makes my heart feel light." He told Drubkang Gelek Gyatso to make sure that he developed the altruistic intention and gained experience of it. Drubkang Gelek Gyatso jokingly replied to his master, "I am something functional and so is the altruistic intention, which means that we can produce each other." Later he was able to say, "In the mountains the altruistic intention is with me. In the valleys the altruistic intention is with me. It never leaves me wherever I go, whatever I do."

    In fact, the altruistic intention is the essence of the Buddha's eighty-four-thousand different teachings which are the medicine for all our ills. We need more than a detached interest in it. Only if we are fired by a real wish to become a Bodhisattva, or simply to become more kindhearted, will we make an effort to discover the way.

    3. One outshines Hearers and Solitary Realizers from the point of view of lineage or disposition. As long as one has this special wish and such an all-encompassing mental attitude, even if no effort is made to develop it further, one is and remains a Bodhisattva, just as a diamond, even if fragmented, remains a diamond and is superior to any kind of gold jewelry. The merit created by the altruistic intention surpasses all that created by Hearers and Solitary Realizers. The light of the stars is made insignificant by the sun's light. The sun does not outshine them through any competitiveness nor does it destroy their light. Just as finding a precious diamond can rescue us from poverty, the altruistic intention removes the poverty of the world. Wherever the great Indian master Atisha traveled in Tibet, he always encouraged everyone to give up their preoccupation with this life and to develop the altruistic intention.

    4. One becomes a supreme field of offering. This does not happen easily because it is not at all easy to develop the altruistic intention. It took Atisha twelve years. The Kadampa masters used to say that everyone had their own particular deity to visualize and a mantra to say, but the reason why their practice didn't bear fruit was because they didn't have the altruistic intention in their heart. We should at least aim to create strong imprints so that in future it will take only a small circumstance to make us develop the altruistic intention.

    It is said that King Ajatashatru had strong imprints for understanding emptiness which were activated in the following way: one day he invited Manjushri for a meal and was just about to offer him a very fine garment he had made ready, when Manjushri disappeared. Feeling very disappointed, Ajatashatru put on the garment himself and momentarily also disappeared. As a result of this he gained understanding of emptiness.

    The gods Brahma and Indra pay homage to Bodhisattvas, bless them to become more radiant and splendid and lend their support to everything they do. The Buddha said that if we want to pay homage to him, we should pay homage to Bodhisattvas. As a mark of how much Buddhas value Bodhisattvas, it is said that if there were no one else to do it, a Buddha would fasten the leather thongs of a chariot round his own crown protrusion to pull it for a Bodhisattva who wished to ride out in search of sensual pleasure.

    The Gandavyuha Sutra says, "Child of the family, the altruistic intention is like the seed for everything associated with Buddhahood." What does this mean? Soil, water, heat and manure act as generic causes for rice, wheat and barley seedlings. The exclusive causes for each of these are the rice seed, the wheat seed and the barley seed. Only the specific cause combined with a variety of generic causes gives rise to a specific result. If the altruistic intention is the seed of enlightenment, the understanding of emptiness is a generic cause, which, like a mother, produces exalted beings of all three vehicles.

    The Great Vehicle is distinguished from the other two on the basis of skillful means and not with regard to philosophical view. The altruistic intention is the preeminent feature of the Great Vehicle. Hearers and Solitary Realizers are engaged in extricating themselves from one extreme—that of worldly existence. They do so by understanding the nature of reality. Focusing on this they develop a combination of calm abiding and special insight, through which they can liberate themselves from cyclic existence. Practitioners of the Great Vehicle must avoid the other extreme, namely that of solitary peace. They do this by cultivating compassion and the altruistic intention. Nevertheless, skillful means and wisdom must be cultivated together because only their combination will produce enlightenment, just as both parents are needed to produce a child.

    5. Great merit is easily created. Since every action of a Bodhisattva's life is directed towards alleviating the suffering of living beings and leading them to supreme happiness, how could this not create vast merit? Imagine providing the greatest comfort and the finest clothes and jewels to countless people for an incalculable length of time. If this action were not accompanied by the altruistic intention, the merit from it, though great, would eventually come to an end. It would not be a Bodhisattva practice nor act as a cause for enlightenment. However, a mere handful of food given with the altruistic intention will create inexhaustible merit, constitute a Bodhisattva activity and act as a cause of enlightenment.

    Why is the merit created by any action performed with the altruistic intention so vast? Because each action done for the sake of all living beings produces merit as limitless as those beings. We all long for happiness and well-being. This results from positive energy and there is no more powerful way of creating it than through the altruistic intention. In the Way of the Bodhisattva Shantideva says:

All other virtues, like the plantain tree,
Produce their fruit, but then their force is spent.
Alone the marvelous tree of bodhicitta
Will bear its fruit and grow unceasingly.

    6. Wrong-doing and obstructions are swiftly purified. Even grave actions which would otherwise definitely bring intense suffering are purified by the altruistic intention. To purify their seeds as well, the ultimate altruistic intention is needed, namely the understanding of emptiness supported by the intention to become enlightened for the sake of all living beings. Even if we can sustain such thoughts for only a few moments, it is well worthwhile.

    Asanga purified the obstructions which had prevented him from seeing Maitreya during twelve years of intensive practice when he was moved by pity for a bitch lying by the wayside, who was scratching an open wound on her hindquarters that was infested by maggots.

    In his Way of the Bodhisattva Shantideva says:

As though they pass through perils guarded by a hero,
Even those weighed down with dreadful wickedness
Will instantly be freed through having bodhicitta.
Who then would not place his trust in it?

These days there is a danger that people think intensive practice of only one aspect of the Buddha's teaching is more important and powerful than a good general understanding of the whole. His Holiness the Dalai Lama reiterates that recitation and prayers are a part of Buddhist practice, but that the most important feature of Buddhism is training ourselves to get rid of negative mental activity, to enhance positive states of mind and to develop those positive qualities which we do not yet possess. From his own personal experience he points out that love and compassion may be aroused by thinking about others' kindness to us. Yet there can still be an element of bias involved, since we may feel such love and compassion only towards those we consider friends. However, if we consider that all living beings, both friends and enemies, are the same in wanting happiness and not wanting suffering, the love and compassion that arise through these thoughts will be unbiased. This is precious advice.

    7. One's temporary and ultimate purposes will be accomplished effortlessly. These purposes have to do with alleviating others' suffering and bringing them happiness by performing four kinds of activity—peaceful, increasing, powerful and fierce—which become easy to accomplish through the altruistic intention. It is the best way to remove obstacles and pacify sickness.

    Once when the Brahmaputra had left its course and was about to flood Lhasa, a practitioner called Monlam Pelwa incised the following words on a stone: "If it is true that I am the Bodhisattva Monlam Pelwa, then by the power of this truth may the flood recede," and it did. From then on monks would go to that spot during the great prayer festival held just after the lunar new year and add stones which eventually formed a great rampart.

    8. No harm or obstacles can affect one. A universal monarch is protected day and night by the kings of the four directions, but the altruistic intention affords us twenty-four-hour protection of the very best kind. Once we think and act for others' benefit, we stop experiencing the results of our own selfish thoughts and actions, the cause of everything unwanted that we encounter.

    The attainment of freedom from cyclic existence, from the pervasive suffering of conditioning, does not completely fulfill our own potential and limits the extent to which we can help others. Only enlightenment allows us to do both in the fullest way. Enlightenment is the result of Bodhisattva activities, which depend on the altruistic intention. To develop this supremely kindhearted intention we must awaken our Mahayana disposition. This depends upon establishing a relationship with a properly qualified spiritual teacher, who should possess the altruistic intention and the living lineage of instruction on how to develop it. It is said to be impossible to develop the altruistic intention without forming such a relationship.

    We all have this latent disposition—the mind's potential to be free from all faults. Our present mental stains are not an integral part of us, for the mind's nature is clear light. Intimately connected with this potential is the fundamental nature of the mind, its emptiness of inherent existence.

    The reason only some people become enlightened while most do not is that not everyone is a proper vessel for the teachings, though each of us can become one. If the altruistic intention is the seed for enlightenment and the spiritual teacher the sower of that seed in the field of our mind, our responsibility is to cultivate the field to allow the seed to sprout and grow. The relationship with a spiritual teacher is part of this process and must be cultivated with body, speech and mind, as illustrated in the Eight Thousand Verse Perfection of Wisdom Sutra by the Bodhisattva Sadaprarudita's devotion to his spiritual teacher Dharmodgata and by Sudhana in the Gandavyuha Sutra.

    The Buddha Shakyamuni is praised as the white lotus among the thousand flower-like Buddhas of the fortunate era because he chose to come to our world during a time of degeneration when living beings are particularly obdurate. This choice was directed by his intense compassion and altruism.

    There were many great scholars whom the Tibetans could have invited to Tibet, but despite immense hardships they persevered in trying to persuade Atisha to come because it was well known that he had developed the altruistic intention. In the end their perseverance bore fruit, the effects of which are still felt to this day. Although Atisha had more than one hundred and fifty spiritual teachers, to all of whom he was devoted, he always appeared particularly moved when the name of Dharmakirti of the Golden Isles was mentioned. When asked why this was so, he replied that any kindheartedness he had was due to this great master.

    It is said that if we can develop the altruistic intention and the understanding of emptiness, namely that nothing has even a particle of inherent existence, we are in possession of "space-like" good qualities. Emptiness is present wherever there is space, and the understanding of emptiness extends to encompass all instances of it and thus is space-like. Wherever there is space there are living beings, and the altruistic intention is space-like in encompassing them all.

    9. One will quickly develop the stages and paths of insight. Shantideva says that those who have both the aspiring and engaged altruistic intention constantly create huge stores of positive energy. Everything they do adds to it.

A great and unremitting stream,
A strength of wholesome merit,
Even during sleep and inattention,
Rises equal to the vastness of the sky.

(Continues...)