3   Motivation: The Thirty-Seven Practices

To enact deity yoga, it is necessary to receive initiation, and to do that, it is necessary to have, as the foundation of the path, experience of some degree of compassion and the realization of emptiness. Therefore, it is customary for a lama, preceding an initiation, to lecture on the stages of the path common to both the sūtra and tantra paths. At the Kālachakra initiation in Madison in 1981, His Holiness the Dalai Lama first lectured for three days in a large auditorium on recognition of the suffering nature of life, generation of an altruistic intention to become enlightened, and the view of the emptiness of inherent existence. An eloquent example of this type of teaching, necessary and integral to tantric practice (not just a precursor) is to be found in the Dalai Lama’s Kindness, Clarity, And Insight⁵² in the chapter entitled “The Path to Enlightenment” (pp.118-156).

The emphasis on recognizing suffering and generating compassion is not just brought over from sūtra practice but is essential to tantra itself. The Initiation Chapter of the Kālachakra Tantra (stanza 12) speaks eloquently about suffering:

           In the womb there is the suffering of dwelling in the womb; at birth and while a child there is also suffering.

           Youth and adulthood are filled with the great sufferings of losing one’s mate, wealth, and fortune, as well as the great suffering of the afflictive emotions.

           The old have the suffering of death and again the fright of the six transmigrations such as the Crying and so forth.

           All these transmigrating beings, deluded by illusion, grasp suffering from suffering.

(For the Dalai Lama’s commentary on this, see pp. 196-197) Also, the compiler of the tantra, Mañjushrīkīrti, illustrates his compassion with protective wishes:53

           Just as those of the lineage of sages along with Ravi came to attain knowledge-wisdom from this [tantra],

           So may sentient beings dwelling in the three forms of cyclic existence become the same through the kindness of the Kālachakra [Tantra],

And:

           In just the way that my mind-vajra dwells throughout the earth for the sake of liberating sentient beings,

           So may it dwell in the three forms of cyclic existence of sentient beings through the force of Kālachakra.

And:

           May the Bodhisattvas above [the earth] who supremely frighten the demi-gods dwelling in the class of demons,

           The wrathful kings as well as their consorts who dwell in the directions and intermediate directions in the worlds of humans,

           And the kings of hooded serpents under the earth who at all times bind up the groups of evil spirits and unvirtuous ones –

           May all of them protect unknowing worldly beings in all respects each day.

Still, despite the fact that compassion is the basic motivation for the practice of tantra and integral to its practice, the best presentations of how to cultivate compassion are found in the Sūtra Great Vehicle. A famous example of advice on how to cultivate both compassion and the attitudes that are necessary prerequisites to it is the The Thirty-Seven Practices (lag len so bdun ma) by a scholar of the a-ya order of Tibetan Buddhism known as the Bodhisattva Tok-may-sang-o (rgyal sras thogs med bzang po, 1245-1369).53a since it easily gives a feeling for the humble and altruistic attitudes that motivate a Bodhisattva’s endeavors, a translation of these renowned stanzas is included here.

THE THIRTY-SEVEN PRACTICES

By the Bodhisattva Tok-may-sang-o

Homage to Avalokiteshvara.

Respectful homage always through the three doors of body, speech, and mind

To the supreme lamas and the protector Avalokiteshvara

Who though perceiving that all phenomena have no going or coming

Make effort single-pointedly for the welfare of transmigrators.

The perfect Buddhas, the sources of help and happiness,

Arise from having practiced the excellent doctrine.

That in turn depends on knowing its practices.

Therefore, I will explain the practices of Bodhisattvas.

  1   It is a practice of Bodhisattvas –

       For the sake of freeing themselves and others from the ocean of cyclic existence –

       To hear, think, and meditate day and night without deviation

       Here at this time of having attained the great ship of leisure and fortune hard to gain.

  2   It is a practice of Bodhisattvas to give up their fatherland

       That has, like water, the fluctuations of desire for the class of friends,

       That, like fire, has burning hatred for the class of enemies,

       And that has the darkness of obscuration forgetting to adopt and discard.

  3   It is a practice of Bodhisattvas to resort to isolation –

       Through abandoning bad objects the afflictive emotions gradually diminish,

       Through the absence of distraction application to virtue naturally increases,

       Through clarity of mind ascertainment of doctrine is generated.

  4   It is a practice of Bodhisattvas to renounce this life –

       Close friends who companied together for a long time separate,

       The wealth and articles achieved with striving are left behind,

       And the guest-house of the body is left by the guest of consciousness.

  5   It is a practice of Bodhisattvas to abandon bad friends

       Who, when accompanied, increase the three poisons [of desire, hatred, and ignorance],

       Cause the activities of hearing, thinking, and meditating to deteriorate,

       And make love and compassion non-existent.

  6   It is a practice of Bodhisattvas to hold more dearly

       Than their own body the excellent spiritual guide

       Who when relied upon causes faults to be removed

       And good qualities to increase like a waxing moon.

  7   Who could be protected by a worldly deity

       Himself also bound in the prison of cyclic existence?

       Therefore, it is a practice of Bodhisattvas to go for refuge

       To the Three Jewels which are undeceiving when refuge is sought.

  8   The Subduer said that the sufferings of bad transmigrations

       Very difficult to bear are the fruits of ill-deeds.

       Therefore, it is a practice of Bodhisattvas never to do

       Ill-deeds though it comes down to their life.

  9   The happiness of the three realms of cyclic existence,

       Like dew on the tip of a blade of grass, disintegrates after a brief time.

       [Therefore] it is a practice of Bodhisattvas to seek

       The supreme state of immutable liberation.

10   What is the use of one’s own happiness if mothers

       Who were kind to oneself since beginningless time suffer?

       Therefore, it is a practice of Bodhisattvas to generate the altruistic intention to become enlightened

       In order to free limitless sentient beings.

11   All suffering arises from wanting happiness for oneself

       Whereas the perfect Buddhas are born from altruism.

       Therefore, it is a practice of Bodhisattvas to switch completely

       Their own happiness for others’ suffering.

12   Even if someone out of great desire steals all their wealth

       Or sends another to steal it away,

       It is a practice of Bodhisattvas to dedicate to that person

       Their body, resources, and virtues of the three times.

13   Even if someone hacks away at their head

       When they do not have the slightest fault

       It is a practice of Bodhisattvas out of compassion

       To take to themselves the ill-deeds of that person.

14   Even if someone proclaims throughout the billion worlds

       Various types of ill-repute about them,

       It is a practice of Bodhisattvas to speak with a mind of love

       Of the good qualities of that person.

15   Even if someone crowds into the middle of a gathering of many beings

       And accusingly speaks bad words about them,

       It is a practice of Bodhisattvas to bow respectfully

       With a discrimination of that person as a spiritual guide.

16   Even if a person sustained dearly like their own child

       Views them as an enemy,

       It is a practice of Bodhisattvas to be greatly merciful

       Like a mother to her child stricken with illness.

17   Even if a being equal with or below them

       Derides them out of pride,

       It is a practice of Bodhisattvas respectfully to take

       That person to the crown of their head like a guru.

18   Though they are bereft of livelihood, always despised by people,

       And afflicted by awful illness and demons,

       It is a practice of Bodhisattvas without discouragement

       To take all beings’ ill-deeds and sufferings to themselves.

19   Though they are famous, respected by many beings,

       And have attained the likes of the wealth of Vaishravana,

       It is a practice of Bodhisattvas to be uninflated,

       Seeing the essencelessness of the glory and wealth of cyclic existence.

20   If the internal enemy of hatred is not tamed,

       When one tries to tame external enemies they increase.

       Therefore, it is a practice of Bodhisattvas to tame their own continuum

       By means of the soldiers of love and compassion.

21   The attributes of the Desire Realm, like salt water,

       Increase attachment no matter how much they are used.

       Therefore, it is a practice of Bodhisattvas to abandon immediately

       Things generating attachment and desire.

22   Whatever appears is one’s own mind; the mind itself

       Is free from the start from the extremes of elaborations.

       It is a practice of Bodhisattvas through knowing just that

       Not to take to mind the signs of object and subject.

23   When they meet with attractive objects,

       It is a practice of Bodhisattvas to view them as untrue –

       Even though appearing to be beautiful like a summer rainbow –

       And to abandon attachment and desire.

24   Like the death of a child in a dream, through holding the erroneous appearances

       Of the varieties of suffering to be true one makes oneself so tired.

       Therefore, it is a practice of Bodhisattvas when meeting

       With unfavorable conditions to view them as erroneous.

25   If it is necessary for those who want enlightenment to give up even their body,

       What need to say anything about external things?

       Therefore, it is a practice of Bodhisattvas to give gifts

       Without hope for reward or fruition for themselves.

26   If without proper ethics one’s own welfare cannot be achieved,

       To assert that others’ welfare could be achieved is a source of laughter.

       Therefore, it is a practice of Bodhisattvas to keep ethics

       Without aspirations involved in cyclic existence.

27   For a Bodhisattva wanting the resources [arising] from virtues

       All harmers are like a treasure of jewels.

       Therefore, it is a practice of Bodhisattvas to cultivate patience

       Without anger or resentment for anyone.

28   In that even Hearers and Solitary Realizers achieving only their own welfare

       Are seen to make effort as one would to stop a fire on one’s own head,

       It is a practice of Bodhisattvas to make effort,

       A source of good qualities for the sake of all transmigrators.

29   Understanding that the afflictive emotions are completely conquered

       Through special insight thoroughly endowed with calm abiding,

       It is a practice of Bodhisattvas to cultivate concentration

       That exceeds even the four formless absorptions.

30   Since one cannot attain perfect enlightenment

       Through the [other] five perfections without wisdom,

       It is a practice of Bodhisattvas to cultivate the wisdom

       Possessing method and not conceptualizing the spheres [of object, agent, and action as inherently existent].

31   If one does not analyze one’s own mistakes,

       One can perform non-practices with the form of a practitioner.

       Therefore, it is a practice of Bodhisattvas continually to examine

       Their own mistakes and abandon them.

32   If due to afflictive emotions Bodhisattvas speak fault

       Of another Bodhisattva, they themselves degenerate.

       Therefore, it is a practice of Bodhisattvas not to speak of the faults

       Of persons who have entered into the Great Vehicle.

33   To dispute back and forth out of [wanting] goods and services

       Causes the activities of hearing, thinking, and meditating to deteriorate.

       Therefore, it is a practice of Bodhisattvas to abandon attachment

       To the households of friends and patrons.

34   Harsh words disturb others’ minds and cause the mode

       Of a Bodhisattva’s behavior to deteriorate.

       Therefore, it is a practice of Bodhisattvas to abandon

       Harsh words about the unpleasantness of others.

35   If one becomes accustomed to the afflictive emotions,

       They are hard to overcome through their antidotes.

       Therefore, it is a practice of Bodhisattvas to overcome

       The afflictive emotions of desire and so forth immediately upon their first being produced.

36   In brief, it is the practice of Bodhisattvas to achieve

       Others’ welfare through continually possessing mindfulness and introspection,

       [Knowing] the state of their mind

       In each and every form of behavior.

37   It is a practice of Bodhisattvas to dedicate to enlightenment

       With the wisdom of the purity of the three spheres [of object, agent, and action]

       The virtues achieved with effort in this way

       In order to remove the suffering of limitless transmigrators.

For the sake of those wishing to train in the Bodhisattva path

I have written down these thirty-seven practices of Bodhisattvas,

Meanings related in the sūtras, tantras, and treatises,

Drawing on the speech of the excellent.

Because my intelligence is low and training slight,

This is not poetry to delight scholars.

However, because it relies on sūtras and the words of the excellent,

I think it is the unmistaken practice of Bodhisattvas.

Still, it is difficult for one with a low mind such as mine

To penetrate the depths of the great waves of the Bodhisattva deeds.

Therefore, the excellent are asked to bear with

The groups of faults – contradictions, unrelatedness, and so forth.

Through the virtue arising from this may all transmigrators

Become the same as the protector Avalokiteshvara,

Not abiding in the extremes of cyclic existence and [solitary] peace

Through the supreme minds of enlightenment, ultimate and conventional.