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The
Foundations of the Spiritual Path
- #3
by Lama Gendun
Rinpoche
English translation of an extract from the book 'Mahamoudra',
éditions J C Lattès
 Acting
in the same way as the Buddha, we abandon all thoughts
of self-satisfaction, all personal concerns, in order
to devote ourselves completely to benefiting others. All
favourable circumstances, success, or good reputation
that we may enjoy are dedicated entirely to be useful
for others. Conversely when setbacks, problems or obstacles
arise, we take these difficulties upon ourselves.
In this way we are certain to realise perfect buddha nature.
Otherwise we remain immature and ignorant, continuing
to act under the sway of the egocentric attitude whilst
ignoring the possibility of acting beneficially for others.
Our only concern is to be greater, richer and more powerful.
We try to preserve a good reputation by attracting pleasant
situations and success towards us whilst endeavouring
to make others put up with all the difficulties that arise.
We give up any inclination of working for the benefit
of others, our only preoccupation being in preserving
what is beneficial for us. If anyone gets in the way of
our interests we do not hesitate to cause them injury
or harm. This type of attitude serves only to reproduce
the causes of cyclic existence and all of its suffering.
Therefore, whatever we are doing, the mind should never
stray from the basic qualities of loving kindness and
compassion. Loving kindness is the wish that all beings
be established in a state of permanent, definitive happiness.
Compassion is the wish that all beings be freed from suffering
and the actions which create suffering.
We should always question what goes on in our mind and
be able to analyse our motivations in every situation.
Is our underlying motive really to be of help to beings
or are we not simply trying to gain some personal satisfaction
through them? It is important to question ourselves in
this way otherwise we run the risk of cheating ourselves,
believing that we have a positive attitude and thinking
that we are acting beneficially when in fact we are driven
by egotistical concerns. Carrying out a thorough investigation
of our true motivations with an unbiased mind is essential
before undertaking any action.
If we observe what happens when we think only of ourselves
and act out of self interest, we see that our actions
maintain and strengthen our egocentric fixation which
is the root cause of our wandering in cyclic existence.
If our activity has no other purpose than reinforcing
and maintaining this fixation then all we are doing is
simply continuing our suffering. This is why it is very
important that we develop in our mind stream the firm
intention to hunt out and reduce this egocentric grasping.
To do this work, from now on we should completely dedicate
our body, speech and mind to accomplishing the benefit
of beings. We should try to give up all forms of personal
satisfaction and never bring harm to anyone.
It is absolutely essential to examine our mind with great
care and to question ourselves incessantly to see if we
are really trying to help others or if we are just trying
to manipulate them and use them for our own ends. In this
way, the moment we recognise a negative state of mind
we can immediately act upon it and develop an altruistic
motivation which becomes more and more stable. However,
if our desire is to help others whilst leaving our self
centred tendencies intact, our efforts are sure to fail.
This is why it is so important to free the mind from all
the negative habits which hold it back so that its benevolent
qualities are truly able to flourish.
Loving compassion is not something which is simply limited
to an aspiration. It must also be manifest through actions.
Therefore we need to undertake an apprenticeship of the
practice which consists in training our body, speech and
mind in the accomplishment of virtuous actions. The positive
result of these actions is dedicated to all beings so
that they attain enlightenment as quickly as possible.
In this way we can be sure that our positive aspiration
is translated into action and beneficial results for all
beings.
When developing compassion we understand that throughout
the past beings have accumulated a vast number of actions,
of which some were positive and others negative. The result
is that now, in this life, they experience all sorts of
favourable and unfavourable situations. Due to the great
variety in their negative behaviour beings now undergo
many different forms of suffering. The different types
of experience that beings have, act themselves as the
conditions for the creation of new negative actions which
in turn are the causes of future suffering. In short,
despite the great diversity in conditions and states of
existence, all of them are characterised by suffering.
This is the reason why we formulate the wish that all
beings be totally liberated, not only from suffering,
but also from their habitual tendencies. For it is these
tendencies that provoke them endlessly to create the actions
which result in suffering. Day and night, we should constantly
make the wish to be able to free beings completely from
suffering. Our wish is to have the capacity to help them
to adopt the truly positive state of mind, which is the
mind of enlightenment, as this will be the cause of their
future happiness.
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