Sun Radiance: Thought Transformation, 10 October 1989, part 1

So the great master Nāgārjuna, in quoting a verse, says, Those who wish for Buddhahood for the sake of others, whoever it is, for oneself and others, There is no more supreme practice than that of the awakening heart. There is no more skillful attitude. It is the king of all skillful actions, the awakening heart. Therefore, it is a great vehicle to Buddhahood, and that one should take this direct way and avoid getting sidetracked. So, we are one person.

The self is only one person. Others are equal to space. And we have, from the beginning of this time throughout all of these lives, been benefited temporally and ultimately from all of these sentient beings. We have a great, a very strong relation with all sentient beings. So the type of relationship that we’ve developed with sentient beings over all of this infinite time is that of benefit.

That is to say, they have been of great kindness to us. And we have to reflect upon the great kindness that others have shown us and begin to develop the skills and means to begin to return this great kindness and benefit others. So even from the point of view of the world, worldly ways, when somebody is having a difficult position and he’s benefited and helped by another person, and then when that person arises up out of the difficulty and is in a favorable position, if he does not in some way return that favor out of a sense of gratitude, then even from the point of the world we think this is a very unkind way to act, a very unskillful way to act. So now that we’ve attained this human life, and we’re as far as we can practicing the Dharma, we have the capacity to begin to return the benefit of others. Now, we can take this opportunity to begin to repay the kindness.

And how are we going to repay this great kindness? Simply through material means, we cannot satisfy all sentient beings. What do they want? They all want to be happy, but in fact they don’t want to suffer, in fact they’re suffering. So the supreme means by which we can repay their kindness is by bringing them, eliminating their suffering and bringing them complete happiness.

How am I going to benefit these sentient beings? I want to alleviate their suffering and to bring them happiness. But I can’t do that for all sentient beings. I can’t even do that for one sentient being. And we have to begin to look around and examine who can bring about such a way of repaying the great kindness, who can establish all sentient beings in happiness and eliminate their suffering.

It’s only a Buddha. And therefore I myself, in order to establish all sentient beings in complete happiness and eliminate their suffering, to attain Buddhahood. So we’re trying to develop an altruism, a kind heart, which seeks to establish all sentient beings in happiness which knows no suffering. And therefore in order to do this I must attain Buddhahood. And this aspiration to attain Buddhahood for the sake of establishing all sentient beings in happiness and eliminating their suffering is the awakening heart.

So by cultivating such an attitude that in order to it by cultivating such a mind it will facilitate us to actually achieve Buddhahood. And therefore we’re going to try to cultivate or meditate such a mind for five minutes. So previously we were working with the method of developing the awakening heart by means of the meditative tradition of exchanging self for others. Initially, this involves the practice of the special remembrance of kindness, and then the equalizing of self and others. After that, considering the faults of self centeredness and the excellent qualities of other centeredness.

And we’ve explained the faults of self centeredness, and now we’re going to begin the explanation of the excellent qualities or the benefits, the advantages of other centeredness or other concerns, other cherishing, or cherishing of others. So initially when we were talking about self centeredness, we have to begin to see that by the means of self centeredness that we engage in various types of actions. That is to say, we create various types of karmas, and under these influence of these karmas by their power, we are forced to undergo experiences of suffering, that we have to begin to see this for ourselves. And seeing this, understanding this, begin to abandon self centeredness. So in this practice what do we need to do?

First, as was mentioned, have to begin to abandon self centeredness, and begin to develop the thought transformation method of holding others as dear. That is to begin to become other centered. The root text of the thought transformation text says to cultivate the kindness of all. And by all it means that all sentient beings. And what we are trying to do is develop the attitude of holding all sentient beings as dear.

If someone were to respond to the needs of others, when others are in difficulty, in need, when they’re without food or clothing or shelter, if they’re sick, if in response to their various troubles, their various needs, if they were to provide them with food, give them a home to stay in, to give them clothing, to give them medicine for their sickness, then we would all think that such a type of person was extremely kind. When we would think that this type of person was very admirable, really a wonderful person, And just meeting that type of person would make us happy, would bring us a certain joy. We were thinking how wonderful this person is. So, now, having and associating with such a type of person, such a remarkable type of person, who would benefit others in this way. That we would do whatever we could to help him in his work.

That if we had some kind of means, if for example this person didn’t have the means to help the troubled and we had that means, would seek to aid him and assist him in his work to help him by whatever means that we might possess. So looking at the benefit that sentient beings are continually giving us, in this life that independence and reliance upon sentient beings, we have we were born, we have food, we have clothing, we have shelter. These are all provided for us by other people. But not only this, but not only that. You know in this life the great benefit, the great kindness that sentient beings are showing us.

But from the point of view of the great vehicle or Buddhism in general, within our practice, we have the understanding that this has been occurring from previous lives. That the life before this life, and before that, and before that, and before that. That these sentient beings have been acting in the same kind way to us, providing us with all our necessities of food, clothing, and shelter. All these things, even numberless previous lives, were dependent upon the kindness of sentient beings. And again, in the future, that we will be born from our mother, and that sentient beings will provide us with all that we need, all our food, clothing, and shelter.

All our happiness arises in dependence upon sentient beings. You know, sentient beings are extremely precious. They’re a wish fulfilling gem. They’re they’re more valuable than thousands of wish fulfilling gems. So in considering the great benefit that sentient beings are showing us, we have to begin to treat them, these kind sentient beings, like a mother’s attitude toward her child, and that developing a great caring for sentient beings, not harming them, but seeking to benefit them.

We have to develop an other centered attitude, or that is to say a cherishing of others in view of the great kindness. Not only developing this cherishing of others, but it must be extended to all sentient beings, no matter what that being might be, even down to the lowliest insect. That they’re helping us, they’re benefiting us now and they will again benefit us in the future and developing this same beneficial attitude of cherishing and caring for all sentient beings equally. So you know we explained the benefit that sentient beings are showing us, but we’ve been mainly concerned in terms of worldly concerns. And we’re going to discuss from the point of view of spiritual practice how benefits sentient beings benefit us.

Now we’ve attained a human body. And through the practice of Dharma, the spiritual practices, that individuals in dependence upon having attained a human life have gone on to attain the level of a foe destroyer such as the hearer foe destroyers, the solitary realizer foe destroyers that is to say arhat. They have completely abandoned cyclic existence. That is to say they have abandoned all suffering and have attained the bliss of liberation. We’re talking about the lesser vehicle practitioners presently.

From where does these great attainments arise? Through their means of practice they attain their great goal of achieving liberation. And this arises in dependence upon the practice of Dharma, the spiritual practice. Where does spiritual practice arise? It was dependent upon the teachings of Buddha.

We go on. We say, okay, the Dharma arose came from the Buddha, but where did the Buddha come from? And we search and we see that the Buddha arises out of the path of the bodhisattva, that he arose out of the bodhisattva. Again, where did the bodhisattva arise from? The bodhisattva arises out of the awakening heart, bodhicitta.

So bodhisattva arises out of the awakening heart, the wisdom, understanding emptiness, and great compassion. It is through these practices that the bodhisattva arises. So it is the bodhisattva arises out of the awakening heart and emptiness. That is not emptiness, the view of emptiness as taught by the Buddha. The awakening heart and the view of emptiness as taught by the Buddha.

Out of these two, where did these come from? Where did these arise from? They arose out of great compassion. The root of all of these practices is great compassion. But where does this great compassion come from?

This great compassion is developed in reliance upon sentient beings. By the power of seeing sentient beings tormented by their suffering and without happiness, we develop the wish may they be separated from that suffering. And therefore we develop great compassion. Therefore the root of the entire practice is sentient beings. So whatever happiness there may be in the world, the great auspicious opportunity represented by rebirth as a human or as a god, All of the great qualities of the lesser vehicle, the greater vehicle, the bodhisattvas and the buddhas all arise out of compassion, and compassion arises out of dependence upon sentient beings.

So all of these wonderful qualities all have their root in sentient beings. So if we were to explain extensively, then we would have to look to Candrakīrti’s Entering the Middle Way in which he explains in his opening verse that compassion is important in the beginning, middle, and end. And that all of the most wonderful qualities and attainments arise in dependence upon compassion, and the root of compassion is in reliance upon sentient beings. Therefore the root of all powerful attainments is sentient beings. In seeking to attain Buddhahood, we must first become a bodhisattva.

And before becoming a bodhisattva, we must develop the awakening heart and develop the understanding of the view of emptiness and great compassion. So in order to develop these qualities, we must develop love and compassion, and we must engage in the methods for developing these qualities. And it is necessary in order to make use of the methods to rely on sentient beings. Without sentient beings there can be no love and compassion. And in the future when we are taking a rebirth as a human, trying to having a body which is very attractive, healthy, that we don’t have any great difficulties.

And this in itself is this type of is dependent such a type of birth is dependent upon sentient beings. So can you begin to understand the preciousness of sentient beings, their importance? That if we when we look and when we reflect upon them, we can look at the situation from the worldly point of view. And that we rely upon sentient beings for our food, clothing, and shelter. But also from the point of view of spiritual practice that the great kindness of sentient beings.

So we have to begin to cherish sentient beings, to begin to cultivate love and compassion toward them. This is the way that we’re going to develop an awakening heart. That for the sake of sentient beings, we practice generosity. For their sake, ethics. For their sake, patience.

For their sake, we make effort in our spiritual practices. For their sake, we engage in the various types of meditation. For their sake, we are going to realize emptiness. That between self and others, we begin to lessen our concern for ourselves and begin to place almost 100% concern for the welfare of others. So if we carry on such a type of practice, then we will attain Buddhahood.

Take the example of Śākyamūni Buddha, who practiced in such a way and thereby attained Buddhahood. And having attained Buddhahood, he went on to teach the Dharma. And that this has come down to the present where numberless sentient beings have been benefited by his means. So, Śākyamūni Buddha was not alone in this great accomplishment. That there are many great accomplished masters in India who through, in fact, through the practice of tantra there have been numberless individuals who attained Buddhahood.

And there were those who attained Buddhahood in Tibet, and additionally those who practiced the Buddhadharma in China and attained Buddhahood. If we can by developing compassion, cultivating compassion, cultivating an awakening heart, meditating on emptiness, we don’t need to wait a long time to attain Buddhahood. So presently within our minds we have Buddha nature, that is Buddha lineage. We have the capacity, that capacity, that potential to attain Buddhahood. But just like in growing a sprout, it’s necessary to, once the seed is in the ground, to provide the conditions.

We apply water and that germinates the seed and the sprout arises. And we have to do this with our Buddha nature. And we have to germinate, activate our Buddha nature through our practice. In this way we can attain Buddhahood. Our capacity will increase.

You know, if we take an example of a flower seed. The flower seed, it has the capacity. It has the potential to grow a flower. But even though it has that potency, if we don’t provide the necessary conditions, then it’s never going to grow a flower. But if we, by placing that flower in earth, providing water, we activate that potential by collecting these various conditions together and in correspondence with these conditions, to that degree, the flower will grow even that much more rapidly.

So likewise within our mind we have a Buddha potential. Just like the possibility of growing a sprout. But if we do not provide the complete conditions, then the potential will never be actualized, will never be activated. But, you know, what do we have to do to begin to cultivate in order to activate our potential? We have to make, you know develop conviction and make requests to the supreme rarities.

That is to say the Three Jewels. Begin to listen to the various texts, various teachings, and begin to try to understand the means of developing compassion, of developing love, awakening heart, of understanding emptiness. And having done that, we actually begin the cultivation, that is to say meditating again and again and again. This process of meditation is like adding the water, fertilizer, earth to the seed and beginning to activate this potential. It is in this way by again and again cultivating these seeds, by making requests, by listening, by understanding, meditating, this process again and again and again that we will eventually realize, activate our potential, realize it, enter into the great path of the great vehicle, become a bodhisattva and thereby easily and quickly attain Buddhahood.