Introduction to Bodhicaryavatara #3

by Venerable Shangpa Rinpoche.

Chapter Four - Behaviour
The fourth chapter is on correcting one's behaviour, such as morality. Once we have taken the Bodhicitta Vows, we are to observe the Vows and benefit the sentient beings. We have to engage. Once we study the qualities of Bodhicitta, we appreciate the Bodhicitta and how it is good, then we decide to take the Bodhisattva Vows and invoke the Bodhicitta. Then we are to observe the Path of a Bodhisattva. This is through your own wisdom, to understand the qualities and truly examine and check and find its perfection.
Once you engage, then you are not supposed to break the Vows, It is very stupid if you take the Vows when you feel like and break them when you don't feel like it. I mean, without using your own wisdom to understand the qualities, just blindly following the words of others those sons of very foolish things. Therefore, the commentary tries to explain that those who have wisdom and use their wisdom to decide certain things will never reverse their decision. They will go forward. That is the important point. Take the Vows and go forward. That means, we should not give up.
If we are not satisfied, then before we engage, we should study further and try to understand better. Once you go forward, try not to reverse. Once we have decided to attain Enlightenment for the benefit of sentient beings and we give up this attitude that means we have broken the Vows. When we break the Vows, we have betrayed all sentient beings. We have cheated all the sentient beings because we had promised to protect and liberate them from all sufferings. If you just give up half way, you have just ignored the sufferings of the sentient beings. That is considered as betrayal and cheating all sentient beings.
If, because of just one person whom you dislike, you think, "I want to save all sentient beings except this person, who is most irritating," then it is also considered as breaking the Vows. We have to liberate all sentient beings unconditionally.
The behaviour of a Bodhisattva, i.e. after you have taken the Bodhicitta Vows, must be always ready to help sentient beings for whatever is the need. If they need advice, use your best wisdom to give them advice. If they need shelter, try to provide shelter. Those who are already in the great path of a Bodhisattva even sacrifice their lives to the needs of others, but this is not at our level. Within our capacity, we try to benefit others as much as we can and totally avoid being harmful to others.

Chapter Five - Mindfulness
When we observe the Vows of a Bodhisattva, we have to be very careful. We have to observe our mind consciously. If we do not observe our mind, then we cannot observe the Vows of a Bodhisattva. The mind plays a very important role. It is the first one to start, and then the action follows up with the mind. Therefore, observing the mind is very important.
The mind is just like a wild elephant. It can be very destructive but through mindfulness, we can train that mind. We can tame it until it becomes like a domesticated elephant. Our awareness or subconsciousness is just like a trainer. With patience, we can tame our mind. Once our mind is tamed, the environment or others do not affect it.
Like the sufferings in hell and the sufferings of hungry ghosts, they do not actually exist in a solid form somewhere. Are somebody punishing and somebody suffering continuously? It is not so. Santideva said, "Who makes the Burning Iron Ground and who creates all the beings and the person in the hell who is punishing everybody? There is no one who makes or creates these. These are the manifestations of our own confused mind. The suffering of hell is not somewhere else but is within the mind. Enlightenment is also not somewhere else, it is within the mind."
Therefore, in the whole world, there is nothing more destructive than the mind. The mind can manifest hell and the mind can manifest Enlightenment. So, the most important thing is observing our own mind. We have to be mindful. If we observe our mind, the rest of the actions will be naturally corrected.
Just like the ground that is covered with stones and thorns which cannot be stepped on. In order to make it safe, you cannot cover the whole ground with leather because that would be too much and you will never have enough to cover the whole world. You can just wear shoes and walk. That is very safe.
We do not have to tackle each and every negative action or consequence one by one. We try to tame our own mind, then we have tamed the rest of the defilements, the rest of the causes and conditions.
Without mindfulness, whatever good actions we do, It is not safe or secure. It can be very easily destroyed, once we don't have the mindfulness. Defilements are just like a thief without knowing it can take all our accumulation of good merits.
That means, when we don't have mindfulness, we become careless. When we become careless, unknowingly we may do a lot of wrong things. Without realising that which is wrong, we will go towards the wrong path and the wrong direction. In that way, all our accumulation of merits will vanish or be destroyed.
Mindfulness applies to any action we do. Even when I have to talk to somebody, I have to examine whether this kind of speech will cause negativeness or not, and whether it will affect someone badly or not. Not only speech, in whatever action we do, we must always examine first. We must always be aware, through our own investigation, that this is the right thing I should say or do. This is mindfulness.
If we just say whatever we think without any check, this is without mindfulness. If you say it just because you want to say it, without going through any examination, without going through any right or wrong check, this is without mindfulness. This can be very destructive to oneself and others.

To follow...