Work as Practice

Applying the Tree Supreme Methods

If one approaches an ofering of service with basic good intention then one accumulates merit but when three wholesome a!itudes known as the Tree Supreme Methods are genuinely applied an outwardly mundane task can even become a pramit" #o apply the Supreme Methods begin by re$ning your intention thinking you will perform the work for the sake of all sentient beings" %emember you are not making an ofering of service to bolster your self&grati$cation recognition or mileage points" As '(ntideva said look upon yourself as a utensil and think)
I have ofered my body to the *uddha +harma and Sa,gha" May I be a guard for those who are protectorless A guide for those who -ourney on the road" .or those who wish to go across the water May I be a boat a ra/ a bridge"

Since it is going to be very di0cult to remember to apply the three wholesome a!itudes with every page you photocopy or every stroke of the scrub brush before beginning a day of volunteer work students should recite the following prayer)
Even the remembrance of your name dispels the hope and fear of nirva and sasra. From now until attaining enlightenment, I take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sa gha. Following all the bodhisattvas of past, present, and future, may I emulate their in!nite activity to free beings from su"ering. Eventually may I manage to surrender everything I have # my time, my space, my belongings, and even my very limbs # for the sake of all beings. In that aim, I shall begin by sacri!cing my energy and time today to . . . 1insert whatever the task is - copying, cleaning the teaching hall, shovelling snow 2"

#o apply the second wholesome a!itude avoid the pride that shadows your good intention" %emember that the work and its accomplishment is an illusion" If you can maintain this a!itude throughout your task it is ideal but most likely you will forget" So immediately a/er reciting the prayer above you should re3ect in this way)

$hatever I do today is ultimately %ust a concept. &elatively, there is a necessary structure %ust as there is in dreams. 'ough when dreaming there is no true direction, when I dream of falling I fall down towards the earth, not up towards the sky. (ltimately, the direction makes no di"erence # since I never fell # but in the relative world of the dream, the construct of )the way to fall* is still needed. So I shall do my %ob as properly as possible.

Ideally you will do this when you $nish your work but since you may forget the merit can be ofered at the beginning by thinking)
I will dedicate whatever virtue results from my actions to all sentient beings. +nd now as long as space endures, +s long as there are beings to be found, ,ay I continue likewise to remain -o drive away the sorrows of the world.

4566789:;< Tere was once a person who though poor in material wealth was rich in aspiration and so wished to train on the path of the bodhisa!va" In this aim he sought to take the bodhisa!va vows and went to a master to make his re=uest" Te teacher told him that precious pristine bodhici!a cannot easily be cultivated within the de$led mind of greed anger and negative emotion" >e counseled that a dearth of merit will certainly prevent the blossoming of bodhici!a within our being" Te master instructed his would&be student that to take the bodhisa!va vow he must $rst increase his treasury of merit through ofering" Te impoverished man had only service to give but since the teacher was a po!er the student ofered him a day of working the clay" Trough the merit generated from this ofering the student was able to take the bodhisa!va vow and ultimately became one of the one thousand buddhas of this eon" Te famous account of Milarepa?s $rst encounter with his teacher Marpa took place in a $eld" In search of Marpa Milarepa came upon a man plowing a plot of land" >e told the man he had come to re=uest teachings from Marpa and asked for directions" @ever having seen him before Milarepa did not realiAe it was Marpa himself working the $eld" Marpa looked him over from top to bo!om three times and then agreed to lead him to Marpa but he told

Milarepa to $rst $nish the plowing and pointing to a -ar of wine said BA/erwards drink this"C Milarepa $nished the plowing and drank the wine as Marpa instructed" It is believed those simple acts became the $rst auspicous link to Milarepa ful$lling the great task of liberating sentient beings" Tus the eDalted +rukpa EagyF lineage was initiated" Although the term Bkarma yoga C or the ofering of service happens to be known mainly within the >indu tradition these stories show it eDists in *uddhism as well" In *uddhism we seek to dismantle this net of illusion and that is what we call enlightenment" Apart from that there is no such thing as enlightennment" In order to unravel the net of illusion one has to invoke and receive the blessings of *uddha +harma Sa,gha and guru" As Patrul %inpoche said there are three methods of invoking the blessings)
Tere are three ways to please the teacher and serve him" Te best way is known as the ofering of practice and consists of pu!ing whatever he teaches into practice with determination disregarding all hardship" Te middling way is known as service with body and speech and involves serving him and doing whatever he needs you to do whether physically verbally or mentally" Te lowest way is by material ofering which means to please your teacher by giving him material goods food money and so forth" 1Words of My Perfect Teacher p" GHI2

Many of us don?t have the time enthusiasm and drive to truly dedicate our whole life to practice as Milarepa did" If you are endowed with the merit to have such circumstances then of course one should not waste that opportunity" >owever many of us do not have such merit and think that practicing our whole life is not within our reach J so we don?t even begin" Tere are small steps we could take though for instance ofering a day of service scrubbing the 3oor" *ut we think BTat?s too insigni$cant C and end up doing nothing at all" Te great methods seem unachievable and we think the small won?t do any good" As Patrul %inpoche said if a horse pulling a chariot sees one blade of grass on the roadside he will eat it if there is opportunity" >e will not think BKh it is only one bladeL let?s wait for a bigger bunch"C Mikewise we should gather merit whenever there is a chance" If the right motivation is brought to bear the means of accumulating merit surround us in every direction especially for the Mah(y(na practitioner" In Nen temples masters tell students to clean the toilets repeatedly even when they are already spotless" Te virtue lies in the action not the goal"

Philosophy of Ofering ervice If we apply the Tree Supreme Methods to everything we do J even something as ordinary as photocopying a stack of papers for a dharma center J not only does one accumulate merit the undertaking actually becomes a pramit" Imagine that " " " photocopying as a perfected virtue" Oou may think B>ow can making a photocopy enlighten all sentient beingsPC Kbviously a *uddhist center won?t need you to copy the words of +onald %umsfeldL it is more likely to be something to do with the dharma something that in one way or another is to bene$t sentient beings" If ten people read a prayer you?ve copied and one of them J even for a split second J has a genuine understanding of dharma then the seed of buddhahood is being planted" And it is all because of your photocopying" Te accumulation of merit is in no way limited to traditions such as lighting one hundred thousand bu!er lamps or working for a center" If you are a Qa-ray(na student whose master tells you to copy +onald %umsfeld?s words two hundred thousand times completing the task will garner even more merit" Still we humans are a!ached to form and it is easier for us to accept that scrubbing the 3oor of a temple will accumulate merit" So be it"

J +Aongsar Ramyang Ehyentse %inpoche