Mind of Bodhisattva
Happy Easter to all of you. Just looking about actually what the Easter is? This morning I received some messages and also I received some pictures saying ‘Happy Easter’ and I had no idea what it was. It’s interesting because perhaps I don’t know how the world explaine that, but from a Buddhist perspective, it is something that used to happen quite a lot, and especially among those Great Buddhist Masters, there are lots of stories. This is one of the reason why in Tibet and especially in Ladakh, we have a very small door in every house, we have a very a short door which is not high. People say that when a person comes to alive again, if it is some Buddhist Great Masters and Practitioners, it is just like a person is alive again, but if it is not some Buddhist Masters or Practitioners, sometimes it might be a little bit harmful in some ways as far as I understand it, as far as I’ve heard. So that why to not scare everyone, when somebody passed away they keep the body in a separate room, which has a very short door and then they say that when their body awake, they cannot bend down so there are lots of funny stories among the elder monks. When I was quite younger, I used to hear a lot of those such stories because these are quite interesting and this is one of the reasons why some monks, even if they are quite old, they still scare to be around a dead body by understanding that there are some cases that it’s awake. But nowadays very less cases.
In my monastery there is a monk who was recognized as one of the past Great Master by someone living in Europe and that person passed away. The person in Europe passed away, I think it was Europe, he passed away and then the dead body they put in that the box in a hospital – I don’t know what you call that, that’s a sort of a freezer box where you put this body when they passed away. After, I don’t know how many days, after quite a bit of time, that person awoke again, when the person awoke again, he told that he came to alive again for one purpose. It is more like the Master who was born here in the East called him to recognize the Master, so that’s why when he awoke, he came to the East, and then he said, like in this place, perhaps he might have said the father’s or mother’s name, I’m not sure, he said that this is the reincarnation of the Master passed away 700 years ago or maybe 600 years ago, perhaps around that ago. So that person from Europe came, gave this message and then yes, there was the kid was born and who was recognized by His Holiness Dalai Lama as a reincarnation of the Master who passed away many hundreds of years ago.
That is the story that I have which is pretty much related some Great Masters like Pha bong kha [ཕ་བོང་ཁ་], he passed away, so then he stayed in this meditative state for quite a bit of time, but he told his assistants to let nobody enter into the room where he’s meditating. Actually he passed away, the breathing stopped and everything stopped but still and he’s in a very subtle meditative state. So later on, the assistants, perhaps may not have been that careful that they saw someone going inside the room, so after that, the Master awoke and went to some other parts of Tibet and then after that Master approached to some parts of Tibet.
So those are some of the known and that is this Easter today. Today, this Sunday, if I am not mistaken, after Jesus had been crucified, and this is the day he was awaken, isn’t it? It is very hard to say what the other person is as an individual, but this kind of thing happens to some great practitioners. And then I believe that Jesus has been in the lost years, Jesus has been to India at the time to study about religion.
There are stories that he has been to certain Buddhist monasteries as well, there was some group of people who came to some monasteries, it is a Buddhist monastery because they found some documents stating that Jesus has lost a book in certain monastery, so they were hoping that they might find that book which was of Jesus, so perhaps we really don’t know. Unfortunately, the book is not visible so far, it could have been wonderful, I mean it would be really fantastic if we get a real book written by Jesus that is obviously something that he might have lost at the monastery. If it is a book, then it can be such a valuable book, such a wonderful message because there are many wonderful practitioners who follow Jesus. For them I think it’s very important, it would be life changing for those practitioners if they get such a book. For those who practice Buddhist, a book by Buddha, it is very valuable, exactly the same way for those who practice and follow Jesus the book written by Jesus would be wonderful.
Anyways, among those who follow Jesus, in this world many charity is taking place in the form of school, in the form of hospital. And I believe that there are many other ways that many of those who follow Jesus spreading love and compassion. Although there could be some people missionaries having some strange ideas, but then this is common in some sense, it’s a bit understandable. From Buddhist perspective, there is in a self grasping mind, so those people, even if they are missionaries, even if they think and believe that they wish to transform everyone into a follower of Jesus in some ways, they are also doing this because they love Jesus and they think that this is what everybody should have.
But again, from another perspective, it is very important to respect, but those are the different cases, but generally, truly appreciate all those charity which has been taking place in this world through education and medical special education, which is very important because the future pretty much relies on that.
Today we were supposed to talk about ‘Bodhisatva’ and the ‘Mind of Bodhisattva’. So before maybe we can go with a short meditation and then we will go through ‘Mind of Boddhisattva’. And then from next class, perhaps the beginning of May or I don’t know, let’s see whenever we we are able to have the next class, we will go through ‘The Samantabhadra Prayer’ or ‘The King of Prayer’. So we will see how many verses we can go a day and there would be absolutely wonderful and very powerful prayer. The reason why I like it very much is because along with the class, there are many people who do this prayer as a daily practice, many great practitioners read this prayer as a daily prayer, it’s a very wonderful prayer. You can also go through that, but going through that with understanding will make much more difference. So going through that prayer would be absolutely beneficial and I’m also excited and happy that we are going through that prayer from our next class.
So let’s start this with the meditation on positivities or the positive impact, all those great people, great beings like, of course, Jesus, Buddha, Nagarjuna and many other great practitioners of the past. How they affect or impact still influence a lot of positive activities in this world which is going on right now? So that will be the topics that we will make it at all. Right, so three, two and one.
[short meditation]
Each and every actions in which we engage leave an imprint in our mind and one day depends on whether it’s a positive or negative when it ripens, it brings happiness or suffering. So each and every actions that we take leave imprints, it counts, even if it’s like 2-3 minutes of meditation, it also helps to bring peace within us, it also helps to activate positivities within us, even a thought of the positive impact that all those great beings have brought in this world can be really very helpful to inspire our inner mind. Because if we are rejoicing something positive, we are encouraging ourselves towards the positive, we are putting ourselves or keeping ourselves towards positive.
So even a second of such positivities in our mind help to reduce the chances of falling into depression, the chances of falling into stress, the chances of falling into anxiety, because majority of the stress and depression come from the mind, which is not able to calculate what is going to happen tomorrow or later or next time. When the mind is not able to calculate or not able to understand the result, that mind which feel insecurity, suppose something happened to us today, we always worry that what will happen to me, because we really don’t know. Something bad consequences may arise, so that is what we are worrying, that is what gives us stress, that is what gives us when these stress pileup from one to different angles or maybe it can be a same topic from different angles or maybe at different topics or circumstances and people falling into depression when people is overloaded with that.
So each and every positive thoughts count, each and every positive thoughts give our mind more green or more positive or more fresh. So among all those minds, all those stress and depression, anxiety because of concentrating too much upon oneself, one’s image, one’s future, one’s family, one’s body, one’s career. The root of that is self-cherishing mind because you care too much about yourself. There is no rule in carrying on self, but when you don’t know how to care of yourself that’s happened, that’s something that happens.
We’re talking about Bodhisattvas’ mind, the mind as much as we think about ourselves that is the mind which thinks about others, others’ welfare or from other perspective, you can know that the mind of Bodhisatva is always aspired towards benefiting others. Life of Bodhisattva may not be really very much easy, because sometimes it is difficult to help others. You sincerely are willing to help others, but then others don’t understand, some people think that there might be some motives behind, there might be some intentions, motivations behind, because majority of the people are not used today. So even if you are trying to help some people, people first don’t realize that you are helping them, even if they realize, there are lot of people who think that it could be some other motives behind.
And seeing all others’ suffering, seeing all those beings’ sufferings, especially during the COVID or during this Amazon fire, many speechless animals and beings died, absolutely disaster! So the one who is suffering in the fire, it’s much lesser pain compared to the Bodhisattva, because Bodhisattvas have much more love towards each and every one of us, much more than a mother has towards the child. Suppose the mother who has one and only child, especially when the child is young, if the mother is having the hundred thoughts a day, 70- 80% of the thoughts are directly or indirectly for the sake of the kid. Yes, of course, the mother sees the kid as a part of her, but there are also other parts of the body, still among all the body parts that the mother has, the child is what mother thinks about all the time, cares, gives everything that she has, sacrifices many things.
There are many mothers in Asia who still live there with her husband although they don’t go along together. Then I met many people who says that “Just sacrifice for the sake of a better life for the boy, for the girl, for the kid”. So such amount of love the mother has for the child, if we compare it with Boddhisattva’s, the Bodhisattva’s love towards each and every individual sentient beings is much more than a mother loves the child. So when you have such a love towards all these sentient beings, then you have the genuine great compassion, when you have that love that automatically push you into doing something for them, when you love all these sentient beings so very much, things you realize or you search for a way to help all these sentient beings who are suffering, then at certain point of time one realizes that “I’m not able to remove the suffering of few people who live around me, how can I able to help all these sentient beings to get rid of suffering?”. Then the person comes to such a conclusion that “I must become or achieve such a power and knowledge that the Buddha has. So that I can be able to reach to all the sentient beings like Buddha does in all the different ways”.
When you have this mind so very strong, perhaps the similar amount of the desire in the person who is in the worst prison in this world. Suppose if a person is in the worst prison in this world, the desire to get rid of that prison will be so active in that person all the time, doesn’t matter, even if he is having a nice sleep or a good food in the prison. There is always this active mind to get rid of the prison, to get out of the prison. If a person has that level of desire to become Buddha, so that one becomes capable to help all the sentient beings, so that’s when a person becomes Bodhisattva. That mind is bodhicitta, so the person who has that mind is called Bodhisattva.
Each and every minds, each and every actions that Bodhisattva takes in which Bodhisattva engages is for the benefit of all of us. If Jesus was a Buddha or a Bodhisattva, then yes, each and every actions that he has taken is for the sake of all of us. The amount of love that a Bodhisatttva has towards each and every individuals, it’s so much that even the love that we have by our own mother become less.
I have mentioned about one of the Buddha previous life, when Buddha has taken rebirth of the Prince who gave his own body so that tigress can be alive to take care of the cubs. That is just one example, so this is how Bodhisattva are all the time motivated to sacrifice everything as long as it brings happiness in others. In the world and in the time that we are living right now I feel very fortunate that we get to see a living even if it’s not a reincarnation of a Buddha, definitely a living Bodhisattva is our teacher, so this is the reason why His Holiness Dalai Lama is so very known by his absolute selfless action, not just for one or two years, for his whole life sacrificing everything towards the beneficial of others.
Prioritizing others happiness much more than one’s own happiness, there’s no value of one’s happiness given away each and every time and effort for the sake of others, so that he can bring happiness in the mind of others. Even if we don’t become Bodhisatva in this life, it is very important to be inspired from such people. If it is possible, we should wish to become a Bodhisattva in this life, even if we don’t become a Bodhisattva, at least if we try to take, if we try to walk on such a step, if we try our best to follow their steps, and of course, each and every actions we are getting closer and closer to become Bodhisattva. If we take steps or try to follow them on walking in such a way, the way they practice, the way they sacrifice their time and effort and everything to bring peace and happiness in this world.
There is no other merits or there is no other virtuous things that you can do than the practice of Boddhisatva, this is the reason why Bodhisattvas are known as the sons, or in many of the sutras Bodhisattvas are addressed as sons and daughters of Buddha. The reason why they addressed as sons and daughters of Buddha is not because they were born from Buddha, by logically it is because they will become Buddhas. Exactly like the son of the King becomes the King in the future. They are the sons and daughters of Buddha because they will become Buddhas in future.
So by practicing and taking, following the paths of Bodhisattva, one becomes Buddha, this is one and only way. You can see no where in the teachings of Buddha, all these big volumes of Buddhas, you can see no where that Buddha has said something out of selfishness. Each and every words that Buddha spoke, were to benefit others to bring peace and harmony. I was just talking to a group of Ladakhi students who came to the monastery, I was taking them to some different prayer rooms, then to explain a bit about Buddhism, I was telling that, yes of course, I think I also mentioned this point in over here.
In our class, the gender equality is one I won’t say efficient, but gender equality is something that is considered as a huge achievement in this world that we are living, where we are living. Of course it is an achievement because maybe 50-60 years back, thing used to be terrible. In some parts of the world, few 100 years back when the husband died, the wife used to be cremated, burn alive. Even nowadays, in India, few 100 years back, the wives used to cremate along with the dead body of the husband, the wife has to jump alive.
When I was young, I still remember, we call it wid wa [widow in Indian language], the widow, if a woman get divorce or husband passed away or something happens, it is extremely hurt or pretty much no case or maybe absolutely less percentage of the cases where women get to married again and have a normal life. So in such a world, nowadays, yeah of course, it is a huge achievement of gender equality.
But one of the things that I was thinking when we were meditating at the beginning of this section is the same words where people are proud of having such a thing called gender equality
2500 or 2600 years back, Buddha talked equality of all living beings that everyone deserves the same amount of love and compassion, the same amount of respect.
For example, this is one of the robe, there are 13 things in the set that a monk need to survive, in a set of cloth and things that a monk need to survive, one of the thing among those 13 is the net, I don’t know what you call, sort of a net to filter the water. In ancient time, the filter was not there, people just consume from the river at the time of Buddha. That time there are many insects that you can see in the water. So Budda addressed, advised all the monks to carry on such a net along with them all the time. It’s a piece of a cloth so that you can filter the water through that, so that you don’t consume those beings or those insects in the water.
That is an example of how Buddha used to respect the life of even a small creature in the water, then there was this disciple of Buddha with the clairvoyance, a very powerful clairvoyance, he told Buddha that even in the water which has been filtered, although we cannot see, although ordinary people cannot see a micro-being in there, he said “There are still many beings in the water, how can we consume such a water, Master? We are supposed to go strictly non-violent, we’re supposed to have life, we’re not supposed to kill others, how can we survive?”
Buddha said that “This is the world that we are living, when we’re walking from one place to another, of course there are many insects that might die beneath our feet. So there is behold!”
Although Buddha understands that it is not something good because it’s also hurting others, but there is no other way, this is how the world is, this is how things are! Of course there are lots of insects that is in the water which might die when we consume water even if we filter it. When the rest of the world realized that there is still insects in the water – When the microscope discovered, I don’t know – So yes, these disciples of Buddha used to discuss about those weenies by the power of eye clairvoyance.
Buddha said that this is an unpure land. As much as the beings in the water is important, the beings who live in your body is also important, your life is also important. It is OK to drink the water as long as you you don’t see any living beings with ordinary naked eyes, so that’s how monks have a rule: if you are tracking our water from the river and drinking, don’t take it at the night because you don’t know whether there is insect or not.
We may not be able to change ourselves and our attitudes the way we are living and everything all over certain into such of Buddhas and Boddhisattvas, but it is very important that we take steps towards that. We get inspired by these things and taking steps towards that is very important. It not only bring happiness in the next lives, but it also bring happiness in this life. When you totally think about others, when you are concerned about others welfare, I can assure that there is no stress or depression or anxiety in your mind forever. Happiness is all everywhere because you always get to do what you want, you always get to do something for others. If you said that as your dream, your wish can be fulfilled every time. Of course we have to be logical, you may not be able to treat 50 patients at the same time, you may not be able to operate and sort of an operation, surgery of 50% at the same time, but you’ll always get to do things which is beneficial to others.
If you have enough to live for this life, you are fortunate, now use your energy to serve others. If you still have to work, yes do it, at the same time always remember to apply or to add a little bit of Buddhist flavor or the act of Bodhisattva flavor into whatever you are doing, you always can do something which is beneficial to others that you not only help others that will also help to bring peace within you. Such amount of peace that cannot be brought in the market, it cannot be valued by materialistic things which can be absolutely priceless. So this is how Bodhisattvas are, this is the mindset that Boddhisattvas have all the time.
When the world is suffering from different angles, Bodhisatvas are the healers. You watch a movie, you see somebody saving an aeroplane from crashing, that’s a real life hero that you get to see in movies. That’s exactly what Bodhisattvas are sacrificing in their whole life, doing everything for the sake of others, and of course they are powerful, they possess such an amount of qualities which helps them to be more effective in benefiting others.
Some people might think that after 100 over years, 200-300 years, there won’t be Dharma in this world, something happen, this happen, there won’t be that much of positive in the life. This Bodhisattva will take rebirth, wherever there is suffering, these Bodhisattva will take rebirth wherever they are beings. So doesn’t matter how crazy the world you become, these Bodhisattvas will always present in different forms, so you get to see such a positive all the time, at the same time.
From a Buddhist perspective, there is no better way to accumulate merits than having aspired by such activities and to get motivated and try our best in our own ways to just do something, even trying to follow their steps is something that can be really effective. Of course, for the next life, but also to bring peace and happiness in this life.
The time flies, initially I thought I’m gonna talk about Bodhisattva for a little bit of time and then we’ll have some question and answers, but I’m happy. These are very important and not to be neglected in all the sense, because Bodhicitta is the jewel which is fulfilling jewel, let’s say.
Could we say the Bodhisattva can direct take the rebirth?
Bodhisattvas are of four levels, the fifth one is a Buddha. Before achieving Buddha, the path of accumulation, the path of preparation, the path of seeing and the path of meditation, so these four paths. Before becoming Buddha, you have to become this first, then slowly you become this, then slowly become this and become this and after this you become Buddha. So Boddhisatva of these two lower paths they cannot be born wherever they want, they’re still controlled by Karma to take rebirth. And Bodhisatva of path of seeing and path of meditation, these two, they can be born wherever they want, so they take rebirth wherever it is necessary, they take rebirth as a dog, as a cow, as a bird, they take rebirth as a human, male, female, god,
they can take any form, they can take any rebirth. So these two cannot, they are controlled by Karma as they do. That was a very good question, thank you.
…..
Soon we will start with the King of Prayer, prayer by Bodhisatva, Samantabhadra is a wonderful prayer, perhaps Nelly or Chessy know, Nelly, you might also know for this prayer, I will share the text a bit earlier to all of you so that you can read in advance, it would be easy.
I’m still receiving the MANI mantras that Tata and Atita is also there in a group right? They are still doing the MANI mantras and sharing the numbers. I truly appreciate, that’s very nice. So I really am happy with these classes and I truly appreciate all of you for your precious time and I know that all of you have your own ways of practicing and I truly appreciate. Because I also practice in my own ways, sometimes Tata, Atita, they say OM MANI PADMA HUM much more than I do in a daytime.
I appreciate this very good because you can practice whichever you feel comfortable, you feel beneficial to you. It’s more like everybody has a different sickness, then you eat the medicine for the head, I eat medicine for the stomach because I have a stomach illness, you might have a headache. So it depends, it is not necessary that everybody eat the same medicine because it depends on how you feel comfortable and happy.
So I truly appreciate and also I believe and consider that this hour that we spend together is also an act of merits. Through the class, through by discussing and sharing Buddhas teachings, we also accumulate a lot of merits. Thank you very much and I’m really happy that this is happening because of all of you.
[dedication]
There’s no class next week. Today is 17, the next week would be around 24, so 24 we won’t have a class, but we will share the book of the Samantabhadra Prayer. So on the 24 if you have time keep this one hour and then read the book that we will be sharing. We could start the Samantabhadra, May 1st is wonderful, May 1st we will have the Samantabhadra Prayer, the King of Prayer, it is known as the King of Prayer, but actually is the Samantabhadra Prayers.
Looking forward to see you all on that class. So by the time I will like to wish you all a very nice time. If you have any question you can just come forward, I would really be happy to go with any question that you have.
Source.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x9RUuMHiDIRZO0BCWBSMGeY3r5DEjzYJ/view?usp=sharing
Noteed down from the Dharma Talk by Lama Nawang Kunphel on Apr 17th, 2022 orgnized by Aura of Wisdom.
