“Development of Bodhimind, the thought of enlightenment,
Is the central pillar of Mahayana practice,
The foundation of all the Bodhisattva activities,
An elixer producing the gold of merit and wisdom,
A mine holding the infinite varieties of goodness.
Knowing this, the courageous Sons of the Buddhas
Hold it tightly at the centre of their hearts.
I, a yogi, did that myself;
You, O liberation seeker, should do likewise.”

(Glenn H. Mullin, “Essence of the Refined Gold” p. 28, V.21 & 22)

The practice of cherishing others more than oneself is the fundamental practice for those who wish to accomplish their own and others temporary and ultimate purpose. There is no need to talk about an extraordinary realization of the Bodhisattva mind. Even a slight realization of the bodhimind or merely a fair understanding of it, will help us to subdue the negativity within our mindstream.

The temporary benefits of having this good mind are that we will live peacefully and our surroundings will be harmonious. We will be freed from negative thoughts such as deception, exploitation, envy and so forth. Not only will we benefit, but those around us will be affected by the vibration of peace, become calm and feel interpersonal harmony.

Having a clear understanding of the bodhimind and strong aspiration to practice it in our daily lives will cause us to accumulate much positive karma. This will purify the many negative karmic instincts that we have accumulated through deluded actions of body, speech and mind since beginningless time. By the virtue of this mind we will continuously take a higher state of rebirth, which is essential for the practice of the Dharma, as well as for the fulfillment of one´s own and others purpose. As we say, “One´s wishes will be fulfilled by possessing merit.” If we possess merit, then even in this life as a human being we will not be hindered, and our positive energy cannot be degenerated by harmful influences and false friends. A person who possesses merit will always be cared for by a spiritual teacher and will be shown the unmistaken path of practice. Along with this, the understanding which has previously not been attained will be attained, and knowledge which has been attained will be increased. In short, even Buddhahood will be within the reach of such a person, the supreme siddhi will be achieved.

Therefore the mind of cherishing others is most beneficial both temporarily and ultimately. All the previous Bodhisattvas held this mind as the base of their practice. As it is said in the tantras, “Just as the Buddhas of the three times have or will take the bodhimind as their main practice, I will also generate the practice of unsurpassable bodhimind.” As this says: all the past Buddhas have attained Enlightenment by keeping the Bodhicitta as their main practice, the present Buddhas attain enlightenment by purifying the two obstructions with the help of this mind, and in the future those who will become Buddha, including ourselves, will do so through the Bodhicitta. Thus all the Buddhas of the three times have practiced, are practicing, or will be practicing the bodhimind. It is only door by which to enter into the omniscient state of Buddhahood.

Sometimes a person studies Dharma, but cannot ascertain the existence of future lives and the attainments of liberation and omniscience, and therefore cannot generate profound faith: if such a person even temporarily generates the good mind of cherishing others more than self, this will free him from many problems and encourage his positive potential. Everybody, whether or not they are old or young, wise or stupid, educated or uneducated, an easterner or westerner, Tibetan or Chinese, wishes to avoid unhappiness. Everybody is equal in that they desire happiness and they do not desire unhappiness. As the main source of all happiness is the bodhimind, if we really meditate on this mmind we will live a happy and peaceful live.

Otherwise, if we lead our life wih a mind which does not care for others, and we keep our own self interest in our hearts and others interest in the background, even if we possess wealth and power, happiness will not be experienced. A very learned and high scholar who is selfish has no happiness. We do no have to learn this from Dharma alone: it is obvious in our daily lives and in the general conditions existing in this world.

For three reasons, cherishing others more than oneself and maintaining this good mind is the source of all happiness. Whether or not we believe in the Dharma or the Mahayana path, if we desire happiness we must cultivate a wholesome mind. It is the true source of all happiness, benefiting both oneself and others. Therefore everyone who desires happiness should make the bodhimind their practice.

Specifically, followers of the skillful and compassionate Buddha, who taught that we should help and not harm, must follow the true words of the Buddha. In short, all the Buddha´s teachings which are contained in the vast fields of the Hinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana teach us that we should benefit others. And at the very least, if we do not have the means to help others, definitely not to harm others. All the teachings of the Hinayana and Mahayana are included in these two points. Also the profound and vast teachings of the Tanrayana are taught in order to increase the power of benefiting others. Therefore, as I have said before, the followers of Buddha´s teachings should apply themselves constantly to the sublime mind of love and compassion as taught by the Buddha.

Such fortunate beings as ourselves, who have faith in the Mahayana teachings and have the good fortune to stuy the scriptures, should especially practice Bodhicitta and cherish others more than ourselves. For this reason those of us who have faith and are studying the Five Major Texts in monasteries such as this one, should thoroughly study the entire field of Sutrayana, starting from Tsema (Logic) through to Dulwa (Discipline). And as we gain a good understanding of the Sturayana, especially U-ma (Middle Way) and Tsema (Logic), we should put this into practice in our own life in accordance with the Lamrim teachings.

In the beginning we should practice the inseperability of method and wisdom as taught in Sutrayana. Then in the middle and end we should engage in the inseparability of method and wisdom as especially taught in the four divisions of the Tantra. If we can practice in this way, then as Je-Rinpoche wrote in his rTogs-bJod mDun-Legs Ma, “Our life will become meaningful.” As I have already explained, love, compassion and the bodhimind are the most essential elements creating a life of meaning.

The small monks here who memorize the mNgon-r Togs-rGyan (Skt. Abhisamayalankara) daily recite, “Bodhicitta is whishing for enlightenment in order to benefit others.” Therefore thy should take an interest in achieving such a state of mind. This is the fundamental practice of the Buddha´s teaching, and we should apply ourselves to it in order to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentien beings.

The attainment of Buddhahood is no something that the Buddha can hand to us, nor something we can buy with wealth. The omniscience of Buddhahood can only be attained with our own mind which by nature is clear and knowing. The omniscient mind cannot be accomplished without this base. For example, it cannot be accomplished on the base of a vase or pillar. Omniscience can only be attained by the clear and knowing mind, which is dependently existant and therefore empty of true exitence. Because it is dependently existant it relies upon other factors, and thus can be transformed by causes and conditions. Therefore it has the nature of change. So not to mention discriminating between the subtle and gross minds, we can attain omniscience with the valid foundation of our present clear and knowing mind.

Although our mind and the omnisicient mind are similar in that they both have the same nature of being clear and knowing, there is a difference in that the omniscient mind in a single instant has simultaneous and direct knowledge of all phenomena and their mode of being. However, althoughat present our mind has a clear and knowing nature, we cannot talk about it perceiving all phenomena because we cannot even perceive what is in our own room without searching. So we may well ask: if the omniscient mind is essentially no different from our own clear and knowing mind, then why do we not perceive all phenomena clearly. The erason is that our mind lacks power. There is no difference in the clear and knowing nature, the difference lies in the obstructions which obscure the mind´s true nature. For this reason we must destroy these obstructions. Collecting merit by means of body and speech through making prostrations, circumbulations and prayers helps to purify the mental obscurations. But, as the real obstructions are the defects which obscure our clear and knowing mind, these can be eliminated by cultivating a valid spiritual path within our mind stream.

There are two types of obstruction: the obstructions to liberation and the obstructions to omniscience. The obstructions to liberation are the delusions which establish the predispositions which are the obstructions to omniscience, The obstructions to omniscience are that which obscure the cognizance of all phenomena.

First, we must destroy the delusions, the chief of which is the conception of the true existance of persons and other phenomena. The mind which grasps at true existance misconceives the object by wrongly grasping the nature of phenomena. Therefore we must destroy the ignorance which conceives of true existance by generating a mind which directly perceives the true nature of phenomena. By generating and maintaining such a mind, we become more able to hold this view for longer periods of time, and the mind which grasps at the wrong view of true existance is gradually destroyed. Since beginningless timeour mind has been clear and knowing, but we have been unable to evolve it because of habituation to the delusions which obscure direct perception of phenomena. The delusions are caused by the grasping at true existance. We should clearly see the faults of this grasping and uproot it. This can be accomplished by understanding the emptiness of self and other phenomena.

For this purpose the bodhimind which, in cherishing others more than oneself, aspires to attaing Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings, is most important. With such a strong mind we will always be thinking of how to attain enlightenment, even when asleep, walking, sitting or in any other situation. With the help of this altruistic conventional bodhimind we should realize emptiness, thus generating absolute bodhicitta. The minds of conventional and absolute bodhicitta are the roots of both the Sutrayana and Tantrayana paths.

As has been already said, in order to destroy the mental obstructions we have to understand the nature of all phenomena as sharing in the one taste of emptiness. The one taste becomes many and many become one. All phenomena are of the one taste in the Dharmadhatu. Although the nature of all phenomena is not multiple, the mind differentiates between this and that. It is important to understand the nature of the mind and to realize in one´s own mind the nature of emptiness. This is the path we should practice.

We definitely can attain the omniscient state of enlightenment through our clear and knowing mind. The wholesome mind of bodhicitta and the wisdom of emptiness are the method and wisdom for this. They must be practiced inseparably to produce the omniscience of Buddhahood. Such was taught by the skillful and compassionate Buddha.