Good Karma

BECOMING THE PERSON WE WANT TO BE

Now I will place all the blame onto one source,

And for all beings, I will contemplate their great kindness.

I will take into myself the undesirable qualities of others

And dedicate all my virtuous roots for the benefit of all beings.

NOW OUR MIND is clear, steady, and determined. We’re not going to let self-grasping and self-centeredness continue to ruin our lives. Instead of blaming others for our problems, we’re taking responsibility for our lives and accepting that our misery arises due to polluted actions we have created in the past. “I don’t like the present situation and wish things were not like this. But I accept that I am abiding in samsara due to my own reckless, selfish actions. Some of these may have been created in past lives and I don’t remember them, but even in this life I can see that many of my actions have been less than kind. In fact, they’ve been downright inconsiderate, disrespectful, and harmful. Since I don’t like the results I’m experiencing right now, I must learn from this situation and stop creating the causes for such circumstances. If I can learn to release my anger, greed, vengeance, jealousy, and arrogance, and replace them with love, generosity, forgiveness, and empathy, then going through this pain will have been worthwhile. As one step in doing this, I’m going take on others’ suffering with compassion and give them my happiness with love.”

We then do the taking-and-giving meditation. Placing all the blame onto one source—our self-grasping and self-centeredness—we generate the courage to confront these enemies. We take into ourselves the undesirable qualities of others and the painful results of these qualities and give them to these enemies, obliterating them.

Dedicating all my virtuous roots for the benefit of all beings flows naturally from contemplating their great kindness. Frequent meditation on the kindness of others will transform our life and open us to see the goodness in others. Sometimes we believe that the world is a cold, uncaring place where we can’t trust anyone. Other times we think we are a great gift to the world and entitled to have everything we want. Neither of those attitudes is true. In fact, we came into the world completely broke, with no money and no letters of recommendation. Once we got here, we cried, peed, and pooped. Yet others took care of us, and the proof is that we are still alive today. Without the kindness of others who protected us, we would have died of hunger, thirst, injury, or illness hundreds of times as helpless infants and unaware children.

Our parents or other caregivers cleaned up after us, taught us to talk, tied our shoelaces, and brushed our teeth. Without their efforts, we would lack all the essential life skills that we now take for granted. We were not born with the ability to communicate well—others had to decipher our baby talk and teach us to pronounce words correctly. They made sure we got an education, even though we may have wanted to play instead. If we had been able to do whatever we pleased as children, what a mess we would be in right now! When we look at the talents and knowledge we have as adults, we see that they came from the people who took an interest in us and taught us. Without their efforts and encouragement, where would we be now?

Everything we have and use was created by the efforts of other living beings. We drive on roads and live in houses that exist due to the hard work of people who built them. We have water due to the efforts of people who build water systems. Everything we use daily was made by other people, many of them in other countries that do not have the same comforts we do. We need to appreciate their efforts and labor and feel a sense of responsibility toward all these beings who have been so kind to us.

Sometimes we create an identity of being a victim of others’ bad intentions. However, when we contemplate the kindness of others, we see the opposite: more often than not we have been recipients of a tremendous amount of kindness. Consider how hard our parents and others worked for us to have all the food we have eaten since we were babies. Think about the efforts of our teachers to educate and encourage us. Whether we grew up in developed or developing countries, our being alive depends on the kindness of others. If we spend some time reflecting on what others have done to help us, the victim identity evaporates. Reflecting on the kindness of others is not only spiritually sound, it is also psychologically healthy. On the spiritual level, contemplating the kindness of others enables us to generate love and compassion. On the psychological level, it helps us relinquish old, habitual self-images that prevent us from growing.

To practice mindfulness of others’ kindness, look around and, with respect to each thing you see, think, “This came due to the kindness of others.” When you pick up a pen, be aware that so many people’s life energy was involved in designing, manufacturing, and transporting the pen. “My ability to use a simple object like a pen came due to the kindness of all these people, who are just like me, wanting happiness and not wanting pain. I don’t even know them and can’t thank them personally, yet I’m indebted to them.” Look at the chair you’re sitting on and other objects around you, and think the same thing. Then include in your awareness the walls and roof of the building, the flooring on which your feet rest, the lamp and the electricity that fuels it—behind each of these is the life energy and thus the kindness of many living beings. Let this reality sink into you.

From this reflection automatically a feeling of connection with others arises, as well as a strong wish to give to them in return. This wish for them to have happiness and its causes is love. Before we can give them happiness by sharing our possessions, body, and merits, we must remove their misery. The aspiration that they be free of suffering and its causes is compassion. At this point we’re ready to do the taking-and-giving meditation. Take on their undesirable qualities that make them act in ways that harm others and bring unhappiness to themselves. Give them your virtuous roots, so that they develop beneficial and wholesome mental states that are the causes of joy.

The deeper our understanding of the four truths of the aryas, the more effective the taking-and-giving meditation will be. Undesirable qualities—such as ignorance, anger, and attachment—are the origin of duhkha (the second truth). Due to them, we experience duhkha—the duhkha of pain, of change, and of pervasive conditioning (the first truth). We want to free ourselves and others from these two truths. Virtuous roots—such as compassion, love, joy, equanimity, generosity, ethical conduct, fortitude, joyous effort, concentration, and wisdom—are the path that frees us from these (the fourth truth). The path brings about the cessation of duhkha and its origins. This cessation is nirvana, the state of peace (the third truth).

The taking-and-giving meditation is good to do when we aren’t getting along with someone. When we experience difficulties with others, usually we do not consider that they are suffering. We focus only on the pain we experience after they say or do something. However, if we ask, “What is this person thinking and feeling that makes him speak and act in this way?” we realize that he is unhappy and believes that that behavior will dispel his misery and bring him happiness. This person is confused, just like we are when we act in inconsiderate, obnoxious, or harmful ways. At this point, it’s helpful to consider, “What painful emotions are afflicting this person? What wrong conceptions are tormenting him?” Take on the suffering he experiences due to his afflictions and use it to smash your own resentment. Then without miserliness give this person your body, possessions, and merit and imagine him relaxing and gaining mental clarity and peace. An enemy who has a clear, peaceful mind is no longer an enemy, because when people are content and peaceful, their minds are free from the afflictions that motivate bad behavior.

Usually, we have difficulties with the people whom we spend the most time with, not strangers, as there is more opportunity for interaction and more expectations. When you are irascible due to the actions of a close friend or dear one, change your perspective and recall everything that person does that influences you positively. Instead of dwelling on the one action she does that bothers you, think of all she does that is a real gift to you.

By doing so, we see that those who seem to be difficult have also been kind. They might have one or more attributes that grate on us, but when we compare it to everything else they do, we see that we are interconnected and benefit each other. While we can stockpile all the petty things that happen each day in order to make the case about how rotten others are, how do we benefit from doing that? Allowing our minds to think like that will make us bitter and cynical. If we don’t want to become like that, we have to steer our thoughts and emotions in more realistic and beneficial directions, because we are the primary one affected by our thoughts and emotions.

As I take on myself all the destructive deeds of others

Committed through their three doors throughout all three times,

Like a peacock that has colorful feathers because of poison,

May the afflictions transform into factors of awakening.

Here we come around to the theme at the beginning of the text: just as peacocks become more beautiful by consuming poisonous plants, we can progress on the path by transforming afflictions into factors of awakening. Actions committed through their three doors refers to the physical, verbal, and mental actions, and the three times are the past, present, and future. With compassion, we take on the destructive deeds of terrorists and governments that oppress people. We take on the negativity of people whose greed leads them to exploit others. We take on the jealousy and arrogance that lead to vendettas that traumatize ethnic and religious groups for generations.

Taking on all this negativity with compassion makes us fearless in the face of the world. Because we now have a way to dispel despair and still remain connected to the situation in a positive way, we no longer cower and turn our eyes away from what exists. No matter how awful a situation is, it becomes material to use in our taking-and-giving meditation. Instead of erecting smoke screens or burying our head in the ground, we have the courage to look at suffering and its causes with honesty, and transform them into something constructive by using them to demolish our self-centeredness and self-grasping and to inspire our cultivation of love, compassion, and wisdom.

This is the practice of bodhisattvas. Problems no longer provoke fear and hesitations in them. They do not shy away from doing what is difficult because they have deep refuge in the Three Jewels and confidence arising from their own experience that the Dharma methods work whenever they are sincerely practiced. Their lives are vivid and meaningful, and their minds joyful.

How sharply this contrasts with us ordinary beings, who desperately grasp at a false sense of self and focus on our own welfare. We are the kings and queens of moping. When people don’t do what we want in one place, we move to another. When people in the new place again don’t treat us as we like, we pick up and move again. Meanwhile, we never stop to consider how we treat others.

We are like Ping-Pong balls bouncing from one place to another; technology makes traveling quick and easy for us. In olden times, people had to stay where they were and work through difficulties, because there was no other place to go. If you wanted to go somewhere in old Tibet, you had to walk or to ride a yak for days and deal with bad weather and bandits. You had to think about what you were doing and take time to plan your journey. That prevented the dissatisfied mind from impulsively acting out. Instead of being like a flea-ridden dog who moves to the other side of the street to get away from the fleas but finds they come with him, people had to find a way to get along with others because going somewhere else was very difficult and dangerous.

Having said that, there are times when a break from our environment relaxes our mind and gives us the mental space to look at situations from new perspectives. While we may decide to return to the situation and work things out, we may also decide to leave it. But whatever the decision, it is made with wisdom and compassion, not out of fear and dissatisfaction.

As I offer my roots of virtue to sentient beings,

Like a crow that has consumed poison and is cured by an antidote,

May all sentient beings hold the lifeline of liberation

And swiftly attain the buddhahood of the one gone to bliss.

Dharmarakshita commences now with some verses of aspiration and dedication. As crow-like ordinary beings at risk of dying because we are immersed in the poison of our afflictions, we are cured by the antidote of practicing the taking-and-giving meditation. Thus now we are able to offer all our roots of virtue to sentient beings with the sincere wish that all of them—friends, enemies, and strangers—are able to hold the lifeline of liberation. We wish for them to develop the two bodhicittas: conventional bodhicitta, which is the aspiration to attain full awakening for the benefit of sentient beings, and ultimate bodhicitta, which is the wisdom realizing emptiness. Bodhicitta counteracts our self-centered thought, and wisdom realizing emptiness is the opponent that destroys ignorance. May all sentient beings aspire for liberation, create the causes for it, and be safe from the danger of falling into the lower realms. May those who have precious human lives not waste them seeking the happiness of only this life or striving only for upper rebirths or even personal peace. May they have the highest, most noble motivation of bodhicitta, and may they fulfill that aspiration by attaining all qualities of a fully awakened buddha.

Until all those who have been my parents and I have attained

[Full] awakening in the Akanistha realm,

May we all care for each other from our hearts,

Even as we wander through the six realms due to our karma.

“Akanistha” refers to a pure land where awakening is attained. One Akanistha is in the fourth material realm and is a place where nonreturners can attain nirvana. Another Akanistha is the pure land of Vajrayogini.

Seeing all sentient beings as having been our parents, we feel close to others. Contemplating the kindness of our parents or whoever took care of us when we were young heals any rifts or disturbing feelings we may have toward them, which enables us to see all others as loveable. This leads us to wish them to have the highest joy: full awakening.

In the animal world also, parents take care of their children. When I lived at Kopan Monastery in Nepal, there was a dog named Sasha. With two crippled legs, she could not walk and just dragged herself around. Maggots squirmed in a wound on her head. Then she had a litter of puppies, which was undoubtedly painful for her. Nevertheless, she loved her puppies. Sasha painfully scavenged for food so that she could nurse her puppies. She took care of them, no matter the hardship it caused her.

Seeing that other sentient beings have loved and cared for us just as Sasha cared for her puppies, we dedicate our merit so that all of us will care for each other from our hearts, even as we wander through the six realms due to our karma. In order to dedicate our merit in this way, we must expand our heart and be extremely tolerant and forgiving of others. When people act in ways that do not meet our standards, we remember that they are wandering in cyclic existence, just like us. Their minds are obscured by afflictions, so naturally they will do things we don’t like. In addition, since our minds are obscured by afflictions, we’re likely to misinterpret even the kind actions they do, projecting harm where there is none. Furthermore, others may have different priorities than we do, and we need to learn to accept this diversity. In samsara, everything is not going to go the way we want.

This does not mean we acquiesce and assent to whatever anyone does. Remaining calm, we can convey our feelings and needs to others and make suggestions about how to do things. For example, some people who lack structure in their life or who have difficulty in setting priorities properly need structure and instruction. Depending on the situation, we can set up a structure for them or help them set one up. Similarly, we can teach them ways to evaluate various options and make wise decisions.

Sometimes we may have to act in ways that others do not like, but we do this with compassion. Similarly, sometimes they engage in actions that we don’t like or disapprove of. Internally, we contemplate a wise and effective way to respond. We understand that these beings are wandering in the six realms; their minds are affected by ignorance, and they don’t understand the functioning of karma and its effects. Sometimes our relationship with them is such that we can talk about destructive and constructive actions and how to abandon the former and cultivate the latter. Other times, it’s wiser to remain silent because the other person will not be receptive to advice at this time. In this case, we do the taking-and-giving meditation to keep our hearts open toward them.

May we all care for each other from our hearts, helping one another because we’re all in the same boat—samsara. His Holiness the Dalai Lama frequently speaks about ants and bees cooperating with each other for the common good. They have an instinctive sense that they depend on each other and act accordingly without complaining. The queen doesn’t whine, “I can’t move. All you workers bring me what I need, but actually I’d like my freedom to go outside the hive. And sometimes I’d just like to be left alone!” The workers don’t complain, “We have to fly around going from one flower to another. We’re so exhausted! The queen doesn’t even say, ‘Hello,’ although we keep her alive.” The male bees, who have short lives, don’t moan, “You’re just using me to make more bees. You don’t really care about me as an individual! I quit!” Rather, they all help each other for the common good.

Some people believe that dog-eat-dog competition and coming out on top is the path to progress. In fact, that leads to destroying each other. No other species harms its members the way we human beings do. Conversely, when we cooperate, everyone prospers and our species and planet will continue.

Sometimes, Dharma practitioners have the notion, “All the great yogis of the past went to do retreat alone, independent of sentient beings. I want to be a great yogi living in a cave too.” Of course, we prefer a nicely decorated hut that’s well insulated, with running water and a comfy bed. Electricity and plumbing would be convenient too. Food should be delivered at least once a week—only the food we like, of course. Then we’ll meditate on compassion and bodhicitta. Since we’re such kind, caring people to start with, this shouldn’t be too difficult. Then after a week, we complain, “The people who are supposed to help me during retreat are so stupid! They’re disorganized; they bring the food late; they don’t bring what I like. The cave is too cold, the bed is too soft, and birds chirping interfere with my concentration. How can I possibly meditate here?”

We don’t realize that we’re indulging our self-centeredness in the guise of meditating on compassion for other sentient beings. Although we’re dependent on others, we don’t appreciate what they do and instead grumble when our preferences aren’t fulfilled. Furthermore, we blame them for making so much noise that we can’t concentrate while meditating on compassion!

Think about it: there is no place we can ever go where we are not in relationship to other sentient beings. Given that, doesn’t it make sense to care for each other from our hearts, especially all of us who are wandering through the six realms under the influence of afflictions and karma? We have to care for each other if any of us is going to stay alive, let alone attain full awakening. We depend on other sentient beings to help us with practical concerns. Creating the merit that will support a realization of emptiness is also done in relation to sentient beings. We can’t practice generosity, ethical conduct, or fortitude without other sentient beings, and without these practices, there’s no way to progress through the bodhisattva stages and attain buddhahood.

In addition, generating great compassion, which is preliminary to entering the bodhisattva path, depends on sentient beings. If we leave out one sentient being from the field of our compassion—one stink bug, one coyote, or one politician—we cannot become awakened. In order to become a fully awakened buddha, we need to have love, compassion, and bodhicitta for each and every single sentient being, excepting none.

Thus it makes sense to be kind to all these sentient beings. Let us cherish each other from now until we become awakened. Instead of competing and comparing ourselves with others, let us let us look out for and support each other for our mutual benefit and for the flourishing of the Dharma.

During that time, even for the sake of a single being,

May I immerse myself in the three unfortunate realms.

And, without compromising the conduct of a great bodhisattva,

May I relieve the sufferings of the unfortunate realms.

The next set of verses emphasizes benefiting beings in the unfortunate realms. Some people question the existence of multiple realms of existence; others accept the existence of other realms but feel uncomfortable with the thought of being born in them. Some people cite the existence of the hell realms as a reason they left Christianity. “I didn’t like being told that we could be reborn in hell if we did certain actions or didn’t believe particular doctrinal points. But now I come to Buddhism, and here they talk about the hell realm too. I don’t know what to believe.” Confused, one person said, “If I’m Christian, I’m afraid of going to the Buddhist hells, and if I’m Buddhist, I’m afraid of going to the Christian hells.”

In Buddhism no state of rebirth is permanent, and our rebirth is neither a reward nor a punishment. It is simply a result of our actions. Considering that our present mental states correlate with possible rebirths may help to ease us into understanding the different realms of rebirth. Sometimes a person is so thoughtless, inconsiderate, and negligent in his actions that we say he acts worse than an animal. Wouldn’t it make sense, then, that such actions and the mental states motivating them would propel the person to be reborn in an animal body? Similarly, a mind filled with anger colors everything we perceive to the extent that when we take rebirth, we may be reborn as a hell being whose life is immersed in rage, fear, and torment. Craving, greed, and attachment in this life taint the mind so much that our rebirth environment could be one of poverty and inability to satisfy our desires, even the most basic ones for food and drink. This is rebirth as a hungry ghost.

While these rebirth states are related to the mind, they are not just mental states. In the same way that our present rebirth does not feel like just a mental state, so too do rebirths in other forms feel real when we are born there. The other realms are as real or as unreal as our present life as a human being.

Upper rebirths exist, and beings born in many of them experience great pleasure or peace. Nevertheless, contemplating rebirth in the unfortunate realms is helpful for a variety of reasons. First, it motivates us to restrain from engaging in destructive actions, because we understand that our actions influence where and in what life-form we will be born. Second, it broadens our mind to see the diversity of life and therefore expands our compassion to include more beings. We begin to see that our problems are not the most important events in the universe, that many others have it a lot worse, and that we are actually extremely fortunate. That increases our courage to endure whatever difficulties we undergo when practicing the Dharma for the benefit of all sentient beings.

From our present perspective as an ordinary being at the initial level of the path, bodhisattvas’ aspirations to immerse themselves in the three unfortunate realms to benefit even a single being there seems like an impossible aspiration. As our admiration for bodhisattvas deepens, our aspiration to become like them will too. At that time, our mind is more willing to aspire to help beings born in unfortunate realms by living among them. To overcome any fear we may have, we practice happily tolerating and transforming inconveniences in our daily life. When things that we did not plan or do not want to happen occur, we cultivate fortitude and acceptance. Then, we move on to generating fortitude in more difficult situations, such as illness, injury, aging, betrayal of trust, and untrue accusations of misconduct. Our fortitude and acceptance become genuine; they do not involve suppressing emotions or pretending that we are not adversely affected.

When, through practice and experience, we can bear the suffering that is the result of our own karma, we expand our mind and consider bearing suffering for the benefit of others. This is based on a deep understanding that everyone wants happiness and freedom from suffering as intensely as we do, and everyone deserves happiness as much as we do. We then contemplate others’ suffering and with compassion wish them to be free of it. Reflecting on their kindness, we see sentient beings as loveable and with love want them to have happiness and its causes. We gradually train our minds to derive as much joy from doing things that benefit others as from activities that benefit ourselves.

At first, we are willing to undergo a little bit of suffering if we get some kind of perk in return. As we continue practicing, our motivation changes, and we focus more on the welfare of others, without caring whether we get something in return. Our perk is the joy that comes from being of service.

Gradually, our horizons and our capability expand even more. We become able to make seemingly outrageous aspirations to be born in unfortunate realms for the benefit of sentient beings. Training ourselves by making such aspirations strengthens our compassion. Just thinking like this shifts our usual way of thinking to a more compassionate one. Then, by virtue of familiarity with positive aspirations, when we encounter situations in our lives when we can actually benefit someone, we act without hesitation.

Although infinite buddhas exist, it is important for us to become a buddha. While we are in samsara, we develop karmic connections with particular beings. After attaining awakening, we have greater capability to exert positive influence on these beings than do other buddhas who do not have such a strong karmic connection with them.

Even in this life, we see that we have the ability to benefit particular people whom holy beings, such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama, cannot directly benefit. His Holiness doesn’t live with our family or go to our workplace, but we do. Therefore, we have the opportunity to benefit the people we encounter daily in a way that some holy beings may not have, simply due to the karma we have this lifetime. Let’s take this opportunity and do what we can to improve the lives of others. If we are concerned simply with our own pleasure and reputation, we lose so many opportunities to be of benefit. We may think they are small opportunities, but we never know the long-term impact a small action may have on an individual.

It’s important to train our mind to take delight in benefiting others. That is, we don’t expect a reward, approval, or even a thank you. Our reward is seeing others’ situations or mental states improve even a little bit. Able to evaluate our actions accurately, we become impervious to praise and blame. Sometimes people go to a Dharma teaching and, for whatever reason, become angry and leave. My teachers don’t mind. They don’t tremble, thinking, “Did I do something wrong?” People pleasing and ego games are not in the repertoire of bodhisattvas. With clarity of purpose, they remain steadfast in doing what needs to be done and pray to be able to benefit those who are not presently receptive.

When we have great compassion for the beings born in the lower realms and find their suffering unbearable, we will be motivated to be reborn or to manifest there. Upon attaining the bodhisattva path of seeing, without compromising the conduct of a great bodhisattva, we will be able to relieve the sufferings of the unfortunate realms.

At that very instant, may the guardians of the hells

Relate to me as their spiritual teacher, and

May their weapons turn into a cascade of flowers;

Free of harms, may peace and happiness flourish.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful, if at the very moment we are born in the hell realm, the guardians of the hells relate to us as their spiritual teacher? Seeing us, the guardians of hell query, “Who are you, and what are you doing here?” We reply, “I’m so-and-so bodhisattva. I saw that a lot of beings are suffering unspeakable horrors here, and I want to benefit them.” Suddenly the guardians of the hell realms wake up and realize they never knew such a compassionate being could exist, and through their mind opening at that moment, they come to see us as their spiritual teacher.

Through the combination of their receptivity and our ability to teach them, their weapons turn into a cascade of flowers; all of their harmful intentions evaporate and they stop torturing others, and their anger and hatred transform into the flowers of love and compassion. The beings in the hell realm are now free of harm, and peace and happiness flourish in their minds, as well as in their environment. Without peaceful minds there is no possibility of having a peaceful environment.

We may think that this is a wishful fantasy, but imagining such events does affect our mind. While we may not be able to eliminate all the suffering in the hells, we can increase our mental strength—our fortitude and compassion—so that whenever there is the opportunity to reach out and help others, we don’t hesitate due to fear, laziness, or anger. If we can’t imagine stepping into an area of pain and violence, we’ll never be able to do it. This is why as children we dress up and in our play pretend to have different careers. Being able to imagine being a teacher, an inventor, or a parent sets the stage and enables us to become one in the future.

To benefit beings in situations of extreme pain, such as the hell realms, first we must help them on a practical level by reducing or eliminating their physical pain. Someone in extreme physical or mental pain is too immersed in misery to listen to the Dharma. Thus a bodhisattva would first manifest as rain to extinguish the fires in the hot hells and as sunshine, heaters, and thermal blankets to help the beings in the cold hells. Mentally a bodhisattva would send love and compassion to all these beings to eliminate their anger, hatred, depression, and isolation. When beings are burning with anger or freezing in rejection, they cannot listen to the Dharma, so first we help meet their emotional needs so that their hearts can open to the Dharma.

This necessitates a lot of skill and courage on our part. When we are around people who are burning with rage or frozen with fear, we often feel frightened or uncomfortable and want to get away from them. We have to cultivate the mind that wishes to benefit those beings and the strength and fortitude not to abandon them.

I heard the account of a Dharma teacher who headed a monastery with many disciples. One particular disciple was extremely obnoxious, did not keep his precepts well, and was difficult to live with. Other disciples approached the master to request, “Please expel this person. He is disturbing us. He is too thick skulled, and there is no use trying to teach him.” The master replied, “You already have some openness to the Dharma and have heard a lot of teachings. You are able to practice. He lacks this fortune. Since he desperately needs the teachings the most, I want him to remain here.”

In so saying, the master gave the disciples the teaching they needed the most at that moment.

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May the beings of the lower realms, too, obtain clairvoyance and mantra,

And may they attain human or celestial birth and generate bodhicitta.

May they repay my kindness through spiritual practice,

And may they take me as their teacher and rely upon me.

Having eliminated others’ physical misery as described in the previous verses, we wish that they have fortunate rebirths from now until they attain full awakening and quickly gain all Dharma realizations. Born in the human realm or as a desire realm god, beings have the possibility of attaining the Mahayana path of seeing—the direct realization of the emptiness of inherent existence that is informed by bodhicitta. If, with compassion and by means of mantra, they cultivate clairvoyance and other super-knowledges, they will have increased abilities to benefit others.

Sometimes, people ask why bodhisattvas are so happy even though they are aware of the suffering of others. How can they bear to see all that suffering? We ordinary beings can easily confuse compassion with personal distress. Whereas the focus of compassion is others, the focus of personal distress has shifted to ourselves: “I can’t bear to see their suffering. Seeing so much suffering, I feel hopeless and a sense of despair overwhelms me.” We need to recuperate from being in touch with or even knowing about so much misery.

Bodhisattvas, on the other hand, keep their focus on others and meet others’ misery with a genuine wish for them to be free from suffering and its causes. In addition, bodhisattvas know that others’ suffering can be eliminated because it is possible to eliminate its causes, especially its root cause, the ignorance grasping true existence. Because ignorance is an erroneous mental factor that misapprehends how people and phenomena actually exist, it can be overcome by the wisdom that correctly apprehends how people and phenomena exist. When the light of wisdom shines in the mind, the darkness of ignorance is dispelled. As we become more familiar with the wisdom realizing reality, ignorance gradually loses strength until it is forever eradicated.

Bodhisattvas know that each and every sentient being has buddha-nature—the ultimate nature of each sentient being’s mind is pure and the defilements are adventitious. They know that each and every sentient being has the potential to generate the wisdom realizing the emptiness of true existence and thus to free themselves from the prison of cyclic existence. Although each being may take a long time to do this, knowing that it is possible brings bodhisattvas much joy and abolishes any trace of discouragement that may cross their minds at the prospect of working for the benefit of all sentient beings until cyclic existence ends.

Bodhisattvas do not aspire—“May they repay my kindness through spiritual practice, and may they take me as their teacher and rely upon me”—with an egotistical motivation. Rather, they think, “I have a relationship with these beings and want to benefit them. By the power of my caring for them, may a virtuous mind arise in them that wants to repay kindness. Through the power of my practicing on the path and gaining realizations, may I become a qualified teacher by my teaching, may others practice the Dharma and progress on the path.” Such an aspiration is made with humility.

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At this time, too, may all beings of the higher realms

Meditate thoroughly on selflessness, just like me,

And without conceptualizing the duality of existence and pacification,

May they enter the meditative absorption of their equality.

While abiding in the hell realms, suffering from extreme heat and cold, or the hungry ghost realm, experiencing extreme hunger and thirst, or the animal realm, overwhelmed by ignorance, it is difficult to receive teachings, let alone think of selflessness. Beings in the higher realms—human beings and celestial beings—have more conducive circumstances to learn and practice the path. Dharmarakshita now turns our thoughts to benefiting them, especially by teaching them the method (that is, compassion) and wisdom aspects of the path.

Celestial beings in the desire realm have difficulty settling the mind to meditate on selflessness because they are captivated by the abundant sense pleasures of the celestial realm. When we have so much pleasure, our renunciation of cyclic existence fades, and our motivation to escape from the cycle of uncontrolled rebirth goes into hibernation. The human realm is considered the most advantageous for Dharma practice because there is the requisite balance of suffering and happiness. We have enough happiness and respite from gross suffering to have the time and opportunity to consider our situation in cyclic existence, but enough misery to remind ourselves that cyclic existence is imbued with duhkha and we need to get out of it.

When we pray for the beings of the higher realms to meditate thoroughly on selflessness, just like me, this assumes that we are meditating on emptiness and not indulging ourselves while telling others to meditate! Bodhisattvas’ aspirations are not opportunities for hypocrisy.

Selflessness has different meanings according to the various Buddhist traditions and philosophical tenet systems. To review, the word “selfless” has a different connotation than our usual meaning in English, where it refers to compassion. Here, in the Dharma, “selfless” refers to the lack of inherent existence. In this context, the word “self” refers to the object of negation in the meditation on emptiness—the inherent existence of persons and phenomena. Persons and phenomena are selfless in that they lack inherent, independent, or true existence. “Self-lessness of persons” refers to the lack of true existence of the person. “Selflessness of phenomena” refers to the lack of true existence of all other phenomena.

Selflessness is the opposite of what is conceived and grasped by ignorance. Thus generating the wisdom realizing selflessness entails seeing that what is conceived and grasped by ignorance in fact does not exist at all. When we understand this, ignorance has no footing to stand on and is eradicated. Eradicating ignorance stops the afflictions that arise from it, which in turn halts the creation of the karma causing rebirth in cyclic existence. That, then, ceases rebirth in cyclic existence. Thus generating the wisdom realizing the emptiness of inherent existence is our lifeline to freedom and peace.

All phenomena, both those in cyclic existence and those in nirvana, are empty of inherent existence and exist dependent on other factors. Thus they have the same ultimate nature, emptiness. In saying without conceptualizing the duality of existence and pacification, existence refers to cyclic existence—true duhkha and its origins, ignorance, afflictions, and polluted karma. Pacification refers to nirvana, the state in which true duhkha and its origins have been forever overcome. There is no duality in their ultimate nature: both lack inherent existence. It is in this sense that they are equal. However, on the conventional level, samsara and nirvana are different: cyclic existence is unsatisfactory by nature while nirvana is peaceful and deathless.

In brief, the nonduality of samsara and nirvana does not mean that these are the same. Conventionally they differ, and a person in samsara is not in nirvana and vice-versa. However, both samsara and nirvana share the same ultimate mode of existence: the emptiness of inherent existence. Someone in meditative equipoise directly perceiving emptiness perceives the emptiness of both samsara and nirvana without any differentiation between them. This person has entered the meditative absorption of their equality. The fact that both are empty of inherent existence means that samsara can be overcome and nirvana actualized. If samsara and nirvana existed inherently, they would be self-enclosed entities, unrelated to everything else. In that case, ignorance could not be eliminated, and eradicating samsara and abiding in nirvana would be impossible.

While a meditator directly perceives emptiness, only emptiness appears to his or her mind. That person’s mind perceives only the absence of inherent existence, the ultimate nature that characterizes all phenomena. There is also no sense of duality between the subject, the mind that is meditating, and the object, in this case emptiness. Conventionally existent phenomena, such as the difference between samsara and nirvana, do not appear at that time.

When aryas—those beings who have gained direct perception of emptiness—arise from their meditation, conventionalities appear to them, and they again falsely appear to inherently exist. This is the case for all aryas who are not buddhas. However, buddhas never arise from meditative equipoise on emptiness and continuously and simultaneously directly perceive both conventional phenomena and the emptiness that is their ultimate nature. This is due to their having eliminated both the afflictive obscurations and cognitive obscurations, unlike arhats who have abandoned only the former.

People who grasp samsara and nirvana as inherently existent think that samsara is inherently disgusting and have strong resistance to appearing in samsaric realms to benefit sentient beings. They see nirvana as inherently blissful and want to abide in this state of peace and have nothing to do with beings suffering in samsara. However, not seeing samsara and nirvana in this dualistic fashion, arya bodhisattvas and buddhas do not experience suffering when they manifest in samsaric realms to benefit sentient beings.

This discussion may initially seem complex, but as we study and reflect more, our understanding will grow. We start with learning the meaning of words such as “selflessness,” “emptiness,” and the “object of negation,” and of concepts such as “ultimately phenomena are empty of inherent existence but conventionally they appear and exist.” Without first learning the words and concepts, we risk the danger of inventing our own definitions and then becoming totally confused! When we spend time at the beginning patiently learning, discussing, and asking questions, gradually our understanding of difficult topics will increase, and one day we will directly realize the ultimate nature of reality.