All sentient beings are caught in the trap of suffering in the realms of existence. Bodhichitta is a mind that wishes to free beings from suffering and bring them to the state of enlightenment. A bodhisattva is a person who has that bodhichitta mind, is a practitioner of the enlightenment thought which is the aspiration to achieve complete enlightenment as a perfect Buddha for the benefit of oneself and all other sentient beings. Love and compassion are the forces that motivated all activities of Bodhisattvas. Love is a strong wish that aspires to attain happiness for all sentient beings and compassion is the state of mind that wishes each being to be freed from all sufferings or sorrows, great compassion is the root wisdom.

In all the Buddhist teachings, there’s so many of them, it seems such a vast number of teachings, the key thing I think we find difficult is to put them in some kind of framework, to understand how all the teachings relate to each other. When we study any body of knowledge, we know that’s what we do, when you’re studying anything, you know where it fits, if it’s a more advanced teaching you have to understand the relationship to the earlier teaching, this makes sense, it’s really logical. But we don’t think of spiritual teachings like that. I can’t stress it enough, what work we need to have done on ourselves in order to have compassion for others.

We can discuss the qualities of compassion, what they are and how you get them. But if we haven’t done enough work in the earlier part of the practice, it’s impossible, it’s like a joke, we don’t understand it. Especially the teachings here, on how to be a Bodhisattva. It’s a Sanskrit word, the loose equivalent you could say - a saint. If you sit there as a Catholic and listen to the teachings on how to become a saint, it sounds ridiculous doesn't it. It sounds too high! It seems impossible.

Buddha’s view is, we’ve all got this extraordinary potential, the wisdom wing is all the work you do to develop your qualities, it’s about you, you are the beneficiary of those practices. The very first level of practice, you abide by the laws of karma, you have discipline, you live in vows, you stop harming others. Why? Because you don’t want future suffering, because everything you think and do and say, produces the person you become.

Then you go to the next level of practice and you start to unpack and unravel your mind, this is the key job. You really begin to have a deep understanding of Buddhist psychology, you know what the delusions are, you know what the positive qualities are, and you know how to distinguish between them. You are the beneficiary of this! You’re turning yourself into a less neurotic, less angry, less attached, less harmful person. You’re becoming a wiser, more relaxed, more fulfilled person. The practices are all related to how to turn you into a marvellous person.

Now what this qualifies you to do, is enter into the compassion work. Now you keep working on yourself, that never stops, but now the reference point is how to help others. How to break down the barriers between the neurotic self and others. How to develop these profound levels of love, compassion, great compassion, that culminate in this outrageous approach called Bodhichitta.

Centrul Budist White Mahakala, Romania, 8th September 2021

YouTube