THE VAST ATTITUDE OF BODHICITTA

DZONGSAR KHYENTSE RINPOCHE

Photo Jerry Epps

Puja at Vajradhara Gonpa, March 2003 As I must have told you a hundred million times if you are practising ngndro, The Words of My Perfect Teacher is the best accompanying text. Though I have read this book so many times, I still find there are many things in it to read. And its very easy to understand. Thats how Patrul Rinpoche taught. He actually tried to write things in a very simple language. He used common examples relating to Tibetan culture such as nomads. And though, at times, some of the examples can be quite obscure for some of us, still, I havent seen a book thats as farsighted as this one. It really deals with everything, and remains really up to date. And the part where he is sort of ruthlessly sarcastic about teachers is something very, very timely. This book alone should be like a guardian of Vajrayana Buddhism. It exemplifies how to read a master, how to judge a master and how to judge a practitioner. Of course, every page is very important and, although you cant really leave anything out, in our minds we tend to divide like that. We think, This or that is more important. So some of the more important and crucial instructions I will extract.
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To use the analogy of bushland, many of us are not good at having a really long walk in the bush. Then again, I think there are some who, even without being familiar with a particular bushland, know how to sort of get around. It is like being an alchemist and having a certain method that can turn iron into gold. It could be a very simple method, like that of a practised mechanic, for instance. Lets say you have a problem with your car and you try to fix it in all kinds of ways. But then along comes this really experienced mechanic who has this certain something that acts as a catalyst; perhaps with just one wire they can fix your car and everything is alright. Anyway, Patrul Rinpoche talks about two attitudes. It is just incredible the way he presents things. Its so simple and so kind of ordinary that it almost gets lost in the midst of these pages. But he has written about this catalyst, the vast attitude of bodhicitta and the vast skilful means, the attitude of the secret Mantrayana. The vast attitude of bodhicitta is something he emphasises right from the beginning. Generally, when we look at the situation, we think that uprooting ignorance - getting rid of this attachment to the self, of

these seemingly infinite emotions, habitual patterns, inhibitions, and achieving so-called enlightenment, becoming an omniscient being, becoming an omnipotent being - these things seem beyond our reach. Its almost unachievable. Lets forget about all the emotions, just one emotion, one single habitual pattern or a single hang-up that alone takes years to get rid of! Here we are talking about getting rid of thousands and millions of infinite emotions and habitual patterns. Just having one enlightened quality, how difficult is that? Or simply having one good quality, just being a loving and kind person, this really takes a long time to achieve. So enlightenment within this life or enlightenment within the next life, all this is like wishful thinking. There is the whole common vehicle where the path invokes us to renounce home, belongings and possessions and directs us to try to get rid of attachment to all kinds of things, but this is difficult to achieve. Its like you are a traveller, a bush-walker in this case, one with no map and no experience. The only thing you have is this urge to go from here to there and the only thing that you want is to get out of this lost situation. Thats all you have. But actually, even that is something that most deluded beings dont have. They almost give up. They think, I might as well make my home in the bush. But for some of us, we sense that perhaps there is a path, maybe there is a way out. But then we go around and around and around. And when we go around too much, we begin to lose our courage and our inspiration because the path is too long; the path is too long-winded. Theres so much hardship, and there are so many good, desirable things to give up. For us enlightenment is only an idea at the moment. At times, when we do intensive meditation, as a post-meditation reaction we have some kind of blissful situation, but that doesnt last long. So because of all this, what we need is a kind of catalyst, something that these alchemists have. We need something very simple that will make the path right, something that will make the path easy, achievable, and something that will bypass all these difficulties. And that is the vast attitude of bodhicitta and the vast skilful means, the attitude of the secret Mantrayana. And this is something we usually lack. If you have this vast attitude of bodhicitta, for example, then before doing a so-called virtuous act like prostrations it is a matter of having this attitude, I will do this, not for myself, but for the sake of all sentient beings. See, it takes care of it. Why are you so frustrated on the path? It is because you are doing it for yourself. In a strange way you are already frustrated right from the beginning, but if you are doing it for the sake of all sentient beings, there is no frustration. You are doing it for all sentient beings, not for yourself. Loss of inspiration or loss of diligence has no room to enter if you really, really do it for the sake of sentient beings. In fact, if you really manage to have that within you, diligence and inspiration grow and you will almost feel quite responsible.

Not only actions such as prostrations or chanting mantras, but even a mundane but probably good deed such as sweeping the floor of a temple, cleaning the toilet of a monastery, dharma centre, hospital or lunatic asylum, or saving the environment - all the things that modern people are kind of inspired to do these days - begin everything with bodhicitta. (Like with saving the environment, some of us even try to refuse this polystyrene container, which they serve in McDonalds.) You perhaps feel alone, trying to save the environment. Millions and millions of people are not doing it. In this sense, it is almost painful. But why are you in pain? You are doing it without the bodhicitta attitude. You actually believe in it in a very rigid way. Lacking this idea of sentient beings, you are doing this in a very rigid way. You believe in a certain philosophy, some kind of ideology - thats why you are doing it. Im not denigrating saving the environment. What I am saying is, as we begin this action, whether it be refusing to use polystyrene or whatever, this should be accompanied by bodhicitta, I will not go to McDonalds for the sake of all sentient beings. And while you do this - again this is so important - that action should be accompanied by bodhicitta mind. What does that do? For so many of the so-called environmentalists, vegetarians and so forth, since they dont do it with bodhicitta, they have this pride. It becomes an idea for them. They are fixated towards this. They look down on people who are not doing it, and it actually becomes a painful process for them. Whereas when this action is accompanied by bodhicitta while you are doing it, then not only does it bring relative bodhicitta, but eventually it also leads to ultimate bodhicitta. You realise that, after all, this is just your own mind. This is only your idea. This is your mind. This is your fixation. This is a certain path that you are inspired by now. You can see this by judging your own life. From when you were young until now, how many times have you changed your ideology? These days, in your mind, macrobiotic food may be the latest fashion, but how long will that last? All it takes is someone whom you trust, on a certain day and at a certain time. Should this person tell you, Actually you should eat egg because if you only eat a macrobiotic diet, you might have hair growing from your eyes or something. Overnight you will change that attachment. This again shows a lack of bodhicitta. At the end of the action, be it prostrations or cleaning the toilet, whatever, if you have that bodhicitta again, thats the dedication. So what does this do? A person who has bodhicitta is like an alchemist - every action is sprinkled with this bodhicitta powder and everything becomes the bodhisattva path. That is what Patrul Rinpoche is saying and that is something really important not to miss. Cover photo: Sonam Kinga as the monk in Travellers and Magicians, in front of an image of Guru Rinpoche painted on a rock face (photo by Rasa; copyright PFP 2003)

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