Advice on
Spiritual Practice #2
by HH Rangjung Rigpae Dorje, 16th
Gyalwa Karmapa, 1980
Teaching from http://www.kagyu-asia.com
When
the bodhisattvas work for the benefit of all beings with
such appropriate aspirations and actions there is total
fulfillment. The fulfillment appropriate in the sense
that there is no selfishness involved in the way of expectations,
doubts, hopes, attachment or aversion regarding gains
and losses of any kind. The Bodhisattva is completely
pure and spotless, working incessantly and wholeheartedly
for the benefit of beings. Not for a moment is there any
hesitation or doubt, as these obstacles have been transcended.
The ways of a Bodhisattva are gentle, since all harmful
actions and indulgences have been abandoned. Not only
are harmful deeds themselves eliminated in a Bodhisattva's
life, but also the creation of causes of future harmful
situations. Work is done solely for the benefit of other
beings, not only in direct deeds, but in laying the foundations
for future benefits to accrue. When these bodhisattvas
initiate work, then, they are able to cause immeasurable
benefit towards beings, and they do so manifesting fearless
generosity without doubts or expectations, like the great
Bodhisattva of Boundless Compassion, Avalokiteshvara,
or the Bodhisattva of Boundless Power, Vajrapani, and
so on.
All who comprise the great assemblage of Bodhisattvas
are equally powerful and equally beneficial to countless
beings, so that all things seem to be at their command.
Sometimes beautiful lotuses and lotus trees are caused
by them to grow from the middle of the ocean, or a teardrop
is transformed into an ocean. Everything in nature is
at the Bodhisattva's call. Fire can appear as water; water
can appear as fire. It is all because of the strength
of the Bodhisattva's attitude, the aspiration and action.
For us this says that the practice of compassion must
be given full consideration and it must at all times be
in our awareness and at all times performed.
If one is going to attempt to do meditation, for example,
on emptiness, Sunyata, one must never fail to relate to
the enlightened objects of the Refuge on one hand, and
to consistently generate genuine compassion towards beings
on the other hand. The true nature of emptiness is compassion.
Without the experience of the fullness of compassion,
even if one claims to have realized emptiness, Sunyata,
it does not have any significance.
At this particular point you have the opportunity to receive
the teachings. There are teachers, there are facilities.
You have been receiving many levels of teachings, and
it is important that you don't miss the point in terms
of putting into practice what is taught. It is absolutely
important. I am emphasizing today something you must have
heard many times. And yet there is always the need for
complete integration, for mindfulness and respect, for
the treasuring of what one has understood, what one has
received. There is the need of working towards the fulfillment
of the teachings and the complete realization of the meaning.
And toward that end the most important factor, once again,
is the practice of bodhicitta, the Enlightened Mind, by
which you will gradually tread the Vajrayana path. At
every turn bodhicitta is indispensable. Unless the profound
techniques of the Vajrayana are being supported by bodhicitta
one will not necessarily make meaningful realizations.
So, you see, that everything is actually rooted in the
practice of bodhicitta, and to pursue with sincerity whatever
enhances and supports the practice of bodhicitta creates
favorable situations for its development.
