Arousing Bodhicitta

by Yukhok Chatralwa Chying Rangdrol

Bodhicitta is that which makes the path of Mahyna special, and you should know
its benefits, as well as how to take the vow, and the precepts and so on, all in precise
detail.
Consider that you and all other beings are seated before the field of merit, visualized
just as in the refuge practice, and, with a firm resolve to take the vow of bodhicitta,
recite the words of the text:
Ho! Mesmerized by the sheer variety of perceptions, which are like the illusory
reflections of the moon in water,
Beings wander endlessly astray in sasra's vicious cycle,
In order that they may find comfort and ease in the luminosity and allpervading space of the true nature of their minds,
I generate the immeasurable love, compassion, joy, and equanimity of the
awakened mind, the heart of bodhicitta.
Repeat these lines three times or as many times as possible. The initial syllable Ho
is an expression of wonder or amazement. What is so wonderful and amazing?
Generating bodhicitta out of a state complete with the four immeasurable qualities,
so that all sentient beings may find comfort and ease in the luminosity and allpervading space of the true nature of their minds. That is amazing. Others say that
this is an expression of compassion, in which case the objects of our compassion are
all suffering beings. Then there are those who say it is an expression of sadness.
Sentient beings experience all kinds of happiness and suffering as a result of the
various actions they have committed in the past. These mistaken experiences in their
own minds are just like the reflections of the moon in water: they appear, but when
examined, they are not real. Neither subject nor object is to be found at the time of
the fundamental ground or at the time of the ultimate result. So these temporary
delusory appearances, which are false and deceptive, are just like a variety of
paintings created by the diversity of our own past actions. As it is said, Karma is
like an artist. Even a single body of water will be perceived differently by the beings
of the six classes, as a result of their particular karma and habitual tendencies, and
as long as they have this dualistic deluded mind, beings will continue to wander
endlessly astray in sasra's vicious cycle.
Now we are practising so that they might be freed from their karmic vision and
habitual patterns, and arrive at the luminosity and all-pervading space of the true
nature of their minds, reaching the level of buddhahood, where they will find
comfort, ease and relief from all the exhaustions and hardships brought about by
1

their own non-virtues. To this end, we generate immeasurable compassion, which is

the wish that they may be freed from suffering and its causes, together with its
cause, immeasurable equanimity, which is the wish that they may be freed from
attachment to close friends and family and aversion to enemies. Likewise, we
generate immeasurable love, which is the wish that they may have happiness and its
causes, and immeasurable joy, which is the wish that they may never be separated
from happiness and its causes. With the force of the compassion born of the first two
immeasurables, we focus on all sentient beings throughout the whole of space. Then
with the latter two qualities, we focus on complete enlightenment with the strength
of wisdomwishing, with immeasurable love, that they gain the very highest form
of happiness by attaining the dharmakya luminosity, and wishing, with
immeasurable joy, that they never part from it.
Having trained our minds in these four immeasurable qualities again and again, we
generate the bodhicitta of aspiration, by saying to ourselves: In order to bring all
sentient beings to the lasting happiness of complete liberation, I will do whatever I
can to attain the precious level of perfect buddhahood. And we generate the
bodhicitta of application, thinking: To that end, I will train in the vast activity of the
bodhisattvas, represented by this profound path, and strive with diligence until not a
single being is left behind in sasra.
To make the practice more elaborate, at this point we could practise considering
others as equal to ourselves and exchanging ourselves and others. In particular, it is
crucially important that we focus on giving away our own happiness as we breathe
out and taking on the sufferings of others as we breathe inthe practice of giving
and receiving or tonglenand that we meditate as much as we possibly can on
absolute bodhicitta, the union of tranquillity (amatha) and insight (vipayan), in
which there is certainty regarding the selflessness of individuals and of phenomena.
In the biography of the precious lord Atia it is told how, having arrived in Tibet, he
said to Geshe Tnpa and others:
If you lack bodhicitta, then whatever you do, whether listening to many
teachings, studying, reflecting, meditating, practising the generation and
completion phases, meditating on the view of Madhyamaka, or reciting
mantras and such, it will be of no use. All virtuous actions that are not
combined with bodhicitta and all virtuous actions that weaken our bodhicitta
are the agency of Mra.
At the end of the session, consider that you and all sentient beings dissolve into the
objects of refuge. They dissolve into the lama in the centre. He, in turn, dissolves
into the primordial expanse of the dharmakya, free from any conceptual
elaboration, and you rest in meditation. Alternatively, you could consider that, at the
end of the session, the field of merit melts into light, beginning at its outer edges,
2

and then dissolves into the lama in the centre. He too melts into light, and dissolves
into you at the crown of your head. Through this, the absolute bodhicitta present
within their minds arises vividly in your own mind, and you dedicate the merit.
As the precepts of the bodhicitta of aspiration, train in consider others as equal to
yourself, exchanging yourself and others, and considering others as more important
than yourself. As the precepts of the bodhicitta of application, train in the six
transcendent perfections.
| Translated by Adam Pearcey, Rigpa Translations, 2006 (revised 2012). Thanks to Ringu Tulku
Rinpoche for his clarifications.

Main Next

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
PDF document automatically generated on Sat Oct 31 18:20:08 2015 GMT from
http://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/yukhok-chatralwa/ngondro-compendium-3