Sun Radiance: Thought Transformation, 7 November 1989, part 2

That’s quite easy to understand. For example, if we are wearing knickers, then somehow if we have a condition, what I call, incontinence, then somehow if we relieve in our our knickers, then that very beautiful knicker, which we cherished so much before, will become a thing of a dirty thing, and we might feel like getting rid of it as quick as possible. So Mhmm. That’s because the knicker becomes so bad, and it’s what mixed with the dirty thing. So same here.

Such things, we have been holding as very worthwhile, but now it’s mixed with all the unwanted things, so it’s something to get rid of. In Tibetans, mother is the most important and most kind person. And because of that and also because in the general teachings of the Buddha, mother being so kind and the most kind of all the relatives has been emphasized throughout the scriptures. Because of that here, after oneself, one does the practice of taking starting from one’s mother of this life. But still for different society it may be quite different regarding who is most kind and who should be the most liked person.

So in that case it’s alright to do the taking practice after one, so do the taking practice with whoever you feel most liked, who you cherish so much. It’s possible for some people, maybe their wife is most important, their husband is most important, most dear, cherishable, and for some their friend, particular friend could be the most liked person. So in that case, it is alright to start from that person because in doing so, because you so much cherish that person, it is very easy for you to do the taking of that person’s problems, sufferings, and cause of suffering upon oneself. Rinpoche was what I call approached by some people who has been doing practice on the thought training and especially on giving and taking. And one of them told Rinpoche, oh, it has been very difficult for me in the beginning to have a good practice of giving and taking, especially on taking.

Because it was so difficult, therefore, that person said that he or she, the person started from his child because a child is somebody he would normally love so much. And when he did that, he said that it became very the practice became so smooth going. So it is a possibility as an option. So first start with person whom you like most and who you think you cherish and who has been most kind to you. And after that you start or shift it to your relatives, friends, and when it becomes good then shift it to people, strangers who hasn’t done any harm and benefit help you.

And when that becomes good, then shift to enemies. And that’s how the whole practice of lojong thought training has to be. Start from small bit, small bit and then improve higher and higher and finally perfect in the practice. So this taking practice is just done in relation so far. It’s done in relation with sentient being in the group of one group of sentient being who are in the happy migration, happy rebirth, the humans.

And now when that becomes good, then shift your taking practice with those of animal sufferings, do the taking of sufferings and causes of sufferings of sentient beings within the group of animals. And when that becomes good, shift it on to the more intense one, the what’s normally called the hungry ghosts. Take their sufferings and causes suffering upon oneself and when that becomes going quite well, shift it on to those in what’s called the hell beings, hell beings, because hell beings are the sentient beings who had the most intense sufferings. And when that becomes very well, then one has covered the sufferings and causes of sufferings of all sentient beings. And that’s how normally the order of the, what I call, thought training starting from taking practice has to be learned or has to be learned.

As up till now, so far, one has been able to do the taking practice of whole sentient beings in all the universe. Therefore, all the unwanted things of the whole universe has now absorbed and been poured down upon the self-cherishing which is within one’s heart. And because it has been poured down, now at this point the practitioner what I call, the practitioner has to have a kind of feeling that all the unwanted things has been absorbed into this self-cherishing thought and now this self-cherishing thought has become a thing which is a thing of complete disliking and it has to get rid of as soon as possible. And that’s how this whole practice helps. And at the end, one has to have that feeling.

Meaning, whole practice, being absorbed into the self-cherishing thought is the means especially to produce a feeling of dislike to this self-cherishing thought. And on the other hand, because one has preceded this practice with special strength of compassion focused on the sufferings of other sentient beings, therefore has one done enormous, what I call, developed practice on the compassion. And due to that one accumulates a vast amount of merit. And along with that vast amount of merit being accumulated, along with that one also improves in one’s generating the thought cherishing others. And normally for a practice of thought training, which is a practice within a great vehicle path, normally for that practitioner what is required as principal means in progress on the part is to get rid of the self-cherishing thought and to develop as much as the thought cherishing others.

And because those two are the principal aims for that practitioner, because those two are the main principle aims. The practitioner, when he does this practice of taking with a special force of compassion, he somehow accomplishes both those, what I call, both those purposes or aims. Because when he takes the sufferings and causes of sufferings of others upon himself and being absorbed in the self-cherishing thought in oneself, self-cherishing thought, at that point, this what I call, it helps the practitioner at that point to get rid of what is called the self-cherishing thought by looking it as a kind of enemy. And on the other hand, how he is able to accomplish the purpose to generate the thought cherishing others because when he does the practice of taking it has to be with a special strength of compassion and as strong the strength of compassion that strong his thought cherishing others becomes. And the more he is able to generate the thought cherishing others, the more he becomes closer in attaining his purpose of the thought training practice.

Not only those two purposes, there is also the alongside, a passing special benefit of being able to accumulate vast amount of merit. To accumulate vast amount of merit is something definitely needed for a person to attain Buddhahood. And as strong one’s strength of compassion is that strong, there is possibility of arising or being able to generate the thought which is normally translated as universal responsibility and literally it’s called exalted special thought. So as strong one’s strength of compassion is, that strong one can generate this what we call exalted special thought. And how it is, how that exalted special thought thinks is, I will not depend on anybody else’s contribution.

Instead, I will myself alone work for removing the sufferings of other sentient beings, and I will myself alone work for placing all the sentient beings to the unchanging sublime happiness. So at that point, there was a strong strong thought of this exalted special thought thinking that I alone will work for removing all sentient beings’ suffering, and I alone will work for placing all sentient beings to the ultimate happiness. But still at that point when one analyzes one’s resources whether being able or not able, one will find that at that point one is not able to do, that too is not possible. Therefore one will search for the complete excellent resource from which one can be able to do that two purposes. And in trying to search one will ultimately find that it is only possible if I attain the state of complete enlightenment called Buddhahood that I can definitely accomplish those two purposes.

So having found that, one will have a strong sense of urge to attain that state of Buddhahood for that purpose and that strong urge to aspiring to attain Buddhahood for those two purposes is what is normally called bodhicitta, the altruistic mind of enlightenment. And that’s how bodhicitta is being produced by that strong, exalted, thought. So once a person has generated that bodhicitta mind, at the beginning it will be a bodhicitta mind produced with effort, but afterward when one trains on it, it will become spontaneous bodhicitta, which is called effortless spontaneous bodhicitta. And when one has that effortless spontaneous bodhicitta, then one only has to do is accumulate the two collections, collection of merit and collection of wisdom, and finally, quite soon one will be enlightened. So because of that, this whole possibility of being able to generate bodhicitta, being able to accumulate vast amount of pure wisdom and merit, and afterward finally being able to attain Buddhahood, this whole possibility has their source in great compassion.

Therefore, great compassion is a very important thing. And regarding how important great compassion, what’s its benefit, Rinpoche has already explained so many times in the past teachings, there need not be further detail into it. But still, to summarize the main point of the benefit of great compassion is that it is important in the beginning of a person’s course in attaining Buddhahood because it is the one which pushes person towards doing such vast great practices and it’s important in the middle because it makes the person continue to do his practice of accumulating the two collections of pure wisdom and of merits. And also at the end, why it is important is because it is due to the force of compassion that a person, even being a Buddha enlightened, he still doesn’t feel relaxed about being staying there as enlightened being, but works for others, other sentient beings sake, for other sentient beings welfare by giving the teachings pure Dharma and so forth. So there are still some time left, and Rinpoche will explain or he will lead the process of meditation on what we have covered this evening so far.

My thing that has explained so many times in the past that self-cherishing is the source of all the faults and thought cherishing others is the source of all that is good, all the excellent good qualities. I have clearly understood this. Therefore, from now onward, I will do my main practice in trying to get rid of the self-cherishing thought and trying to develop the thought cherishing others. And think that I will hold this as my basic principle pledge, promise to do the practice of getting rid of self-cherishing thought and to develop the thought cherishing others. So this will be my main principle promise.

And in trying to do, in trying to accomplish this promise, at the moment my thought cherishing others is very weak. Therefore, I should do something about it. What would be the best to develop this thought cherishing others more strong? And in trying to find out the means, one will have to have understanding that to generate or to have one’s mind with compassion, a compassionate mind is the solution or is the one which will make my thought cherishing others more powerful. Therefore, at this point, I must meditate.

I must try to generate compassion. So in order to make the thought cherishing others more strong, I have to meditate and I have to generate compassion. What is that compassion? And compassion is a mind which is focused on sentient beings who are suffering. And it is compassion is a mind which wants the sentient beings to be completely free of their causes of sufferings and the sufferings.

And in order to have a strong compassion, I must do the practice of giving and taking because the practice of giving and taking will make compassion develop more powerful and will increase its strength. Therefore, to have a kind of an understanding, thinking that the practice of giving and taking is the one which will make the compassion more strong. And as strong the compassion becomes, that strong the thought cherishing others becomes. Therefore, the practice of giving and taking is very important to develop those two. Therefore, I’m going to do the practice of giving and taking.

And between the giving and taking, firstly, I must do the practice of taking because there’s not much point or benefit in doing the taking in doing the giving first. Therefore, I will first do the practice of taking. And with the practice of taking, it is quite difficult for me in the beginning to take the sufferings and causes of sufferings of others. And it’s quite natural that because everybody wants to get rid of their own problems and everybody is inclined toward accomplishing their own interests, welfare, therefore it is most skillful and effective if I do the practice of taking from myself first. Therefore, I will first do the practice of taking of my sufferings and causes of sufferings.

And first, will I do the taking of my sufferings of future lives because when I die, there will definitely be future lives because the consciousness continues. And upon that consciousness, I will experience the sufferings of the past, previous bad actions. Therefore, because next life is a fact and also if there if that is a fact, my suffering or possible experiencing of suffering is a fact. Therefore, I will first take the sufferings and the causes of sufferings of my next lives upon me. So with that thinking, send a strong, discharge a strong intention of taking future lives, sufferings and causes of suffering first.

And after that, along with the incoming air inhalation, think that those being taken upon ones along with the incoming air in the form of a black light. It is specified here as black light. And with this one, it’s not necessary to think that it’s being absorbed into the self-cherishing thought at the heart. Instead, with this one, one can think that they are absorbed into one’s body because the principal point here with the first one is, one is our thinking to experience the future life’s cause of sufferings and sufferings upon oneself in this life. So therefore at the end, think those causes of sufferings and sufferings of next lives are absorbed into one’s body in the form of black light.

Regarding the sufferings, it is of two, physical sufferings and mental sufferings. And regarding physical sufferings, they come from they come from non virtuous, technically meaning non virtuous actions because the great master says that the that from negative actions or from non virtuous actions arise the physical sufferings. So physical sufferings are produced by non virtuous actions. And regarding the mental sufferings, the mental sufferings they come as a result of various misconceived conceptualities. Anyway, do the taking practice starting from one’s suffering and causes of sufferings of next lives, and after that, of the time prior to death, and then next years, and then next months, and drawing closer to the next moment.

So in that way, think now that all the future sufferings and causal sufferings have been completely eliminated and now I don’t have to experience anymore. And you can think that they are being experienced in this way at this very moment in the form of a little little sufferings and pains you may have at this moment. Think that that is what one is experiencing, the sufferings of all future lives and their causes of suffering. And now I’ve become so good, meaning now everything is so fine that I don’t have to experience any sufferings and I don’t have to have causes of suffering anymore in future. So when that becomes good, then shift the shift the taking of the sufferings in relation with the most dearest and most relative or friend or parent whom you cherish most.

And when that becomes good, then shift it to your relatives, friends, and then to strangers to the strangers and then to enemies. And after that, when everything becomes good, then think that now it has helped to eliminate it has helped to eliminate sorry. It has helped to eliminate the self-cherishing thought. And with each inhaling air, you can think that each of the sufferings and causal sufferings and disorders starting from one’s nearest friends are being taken along with each inhaling air in the form of black light. And at the end, I think that this practice has been so efficient and it’s really nice to help me get rid of my self-cherishing thought.

And also, it is so powerful in generating the strength of my compassion. So in that thinking, I’ll remain in deep meditation for a while. So as tonight, we have done meditation at the end. And, also, when you do meditation anytime, it is it would be good if you do it that way because that’s the order how it is normally done. And now maybe we stop or have no question answer because we had meditation and stop here.